Hay River to update river monitoring equipment

As this spring’s flooding loomed in Hay River, many residents and officials relied on the town’s hydrometric gauges to keep an eye on breakup.

But as water levels rose, at least one gauge broke and others were providing inaccurate updates.

In August, town councillors heard this week, Hay River director of protective services Travis Wright met with suppliers Campbell Scientific and Arctech to discuss the state of the town’s river monitors.

“There have been issues with accuracy with the previous monitors over the last couple years,” Wright advised in a Tuesday report to council.

“We met to discuss switching to a different type of monitor that is using newer technology and as a result [they are] more accurate and durable in extreme conditions [and] also require less maintenance.”

All the old monitors have now been taken out of service, Wright told Cabin Radio on Tuesday.

The town will install new monitors, paid for with territorial disaster assistance funding, in three locations over the course of the next month. Testing of the new gauges is expected to begin in early October.

“The plan is to have everything up and running before freeze-up,” said Wright.