Reducing Life Safety Risks to the Kashechewan First Nation Community

Hatch and FHR Inc.

Kashechewan First Nation, Ontario

The Kashechewan Ring Dyke protects residents of this remote community from flooding that occurs during the spring melt and ice break up. The dyke is ageing and, in the spring of 2006, was almost overtopped. With increasing concerns about life safety risks, the Chief and Council turned to Hatch to quantify the risks and develop solutions to provide a means of warning the community if they should evacuate. Two innovative Hatch engineering tools were implemented to address these challenges. The newly developed dam safety risk assessment tool is used to define the likelihood of the ring dyke’s failure and the flood forecast tool provides an indication of a substantial risk of flooding at least 10 days in advance of the potential event. The results have led to a historic Agreement of Hope with the governments of Ontario and Canada designed to rectify decades of hardship by developing permanent solutions to this problem.