Coldwater River, Merritt B.C. (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

MERRITT FLOOD RECOVERY

Merritt receives $60M for Coldwater River dike work from province; mayor calls out absence of federal help

Mar 25, 2025 | 4:29 PM

MERRITT, B.C. — Merritt’s flood recovery plan took a massive step forward on Tuesday (March 25), thanks to an influx of provincial funding.

The community of Merritt is still working to shore up the banks of the Coldwater River following a devastating flood more than three years ago that led to the full evacuation of the city for a number of weeks. The latest commitment from the government will bring the project closer to completion, but gaps still remain in the city’s flood defense.

“That is why today I’m very excited to announce that the province is providing $60 million to the City of Merritt,” said Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene Tuesday.

The funding will be used to relocate and replace two sections of diking that were over-run by flood water back in November of 2021.

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“Moving and improving these dikes are going to be key to reducing flood risk here in Merritt, as well as other communities along the Coldwater River such as the Lower Nicola Indian Band,” added Greene.

The word ‘relocation’ comes with confirmation that the city will need to purchase properties from Merritt homeowners to allow the dike to be further set back from the river.

“Instead of building waterside dikes that turn rivers into sterile bowling alleys, Merritt has advocated for a new approach that sets back the dike, requires eight times less rock, increases riparian area and provides some room for the river in the future. The flooding in Merritt in 2021 exceeded all previous expectations by 270 per cent,” said Merritt’s Director of Flood Recovery and Mitigation Sean Strang. “The new Merritt Flood Mitigation Plan with setback dikes does include limited areas of property acquisition where the river corridor is tight in order to put setback dikes in.”

The city expects to announce further details on property acquisition as it moves into the detailed engineering stage.

“This particular funding announcement represents a significant, significant change from our previous small piecemealing approach and represents a much more efficient use of public funds and a more efficient way to build diking,” said Strang. “This will not build the entire system but, by the time this is done, this will get us 80 per cent of the way to completing our flood mitigation plan and ensuring the safety of all Merritt residents.”

It’s expected that the entire nearly-three-kilometre stretch of diking will take three-to-five years to be fully constructed, with staff aiming for a four-year project.

“All I can say is thank you and I’m so looking forward to dirt being moved and banks being built and us being safe for years to come,” said Mayor Mike Goetz.

The $60-million price tag includes dike work on both sides of the Coldwater River from the the freshly rebuilt Middlesboro Bridge to Pine Street.

Goetz calls out lack of Federal help

While the province of British Columbia has again stepped up with funding to help the City of Merritt, noticeably absent has been the federal side.

In thanking the province for $60 million on Tuesday, Mayor Goetz noted there is still approximately 20 per cent more dike work to be done in the community, directly asking the federal government to make good on its promise.

“I think it’s only proper that that happens. The province has been here right from the start and the feds had a minister here promising that we would not be forgotten — we would not be left behind,” said Goetz. “Even though that minister has moved on (to another portfolio), the other minister that is in his spot will still have to carry that promise out. I will make sure that happens because — don’t come to communities and make promises unless you are willing to see those promise come to fruition.”

“When we hear the urgency, I think we need to be compelled and resolved to respond appropriately to help these people as quickly as we can,” then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told CFJC News on March 14, 2022 during a visit to Merritt.

Goetz was part of a group that helped rewrite the disaster mitigation and adaptation funding (DMAF) model used by the federal government in the wake of the 2021 floods. Despite, Merritt’s role with the process, the community will be again excluded from potential funding.

“If you have a group called ‘disaster mitigation’ and ‘disaster’ is actually the first word of your group, you should probably actually have some money in it and be prepared for what is happening in your country. I don’t want to sound bitter but this has been a long fight,” said Geotz.

“The new regulations that come in April, we helped build that. I testified in the House of Commons with Mayor (Spencer) Coyne of Princeton in 2022, Zoomed in to the House of Commons on a resiliency group that built that. We helped build that and we don’t get a seat on the bus. We are not included on that because it comes into effect on April 1 of this year.”