Tecumseh working to 'hold water back' with $26 million project

Work will begin in a month to upgrade the capacity of the pumping station at Scully Beach Park to prevent basement flooding.

“We're looking at a capacity of eight to 10 times what those (old pump stations) were able to handle,” said Mayor Gary McNamara at a news conference Tuesday. “Some of those pumping stations are almost 60 years of age.”

The goal is to prevent flooding seen in 2016 when a quarter of the homes in Tecumseh were flooded, according to McNamara.

Another “historic” storm a year later caused almost as much damage.

“Over 9,000 homes were flooded, causing over $300 million of insurable damage across Windsor-Essex,” said Irek Kusmierczyk, MP for Windsor-Tecumseh.

“As you've got rooftops and asphalt water will flow quickly,” said McNamara. “We have to find ways to hold water back, especially in the south end in the development because it does not have soil now to absorb water.”

The project will cost a total of $26 million, with the federal government kicking $10.7 from the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF).

A new pumping station will be built closer to the shoreline in Scully Beach Park and another pump 500 meters away will be decommissioned.

“In order to get the water from the pump station that will be eliminated down to the new site, we have to install a large trunk storm sewer in Riverside Drive to convey that water and bring the two drainage areas together,” said manager of engineering services John Henderson.

Henderson hopes construction starts in a month and must all be completed by 2027 to get all the federal funding.

A future phase of the DMAF project is the replacement of the existing PJ Cecile Pump Station, which is part of Tecumseh’s plans to spend $100 million of their own money on infrastructure upgrades.

“These improvements will enhance the level of service for the drainage areas and are a major step forward in the Town’s long-term strategy to reduce flood risks due to climate change,” according to the Town’s news release Tuesday.