Annie Lake Road resident Cindy Smith says the government needs to take action to prevent flooding caused by McConnell Lake.

Smith told the Star this week her family is three kilometres from the lake. Their property, however, is located on a flood plain and is susceptible to flooding when the ice on the lake melts off.

That could happen as soon as this weekend, as temperatures are expected to be in the 20s, she said.

Smith said the government needs to do some ditching to redirect the flow of water back into the Watson River, which is the direction it used to flow until the realignment of the Annie Lake Road was done many years ago.

One of her neighbours is already pumping water out of his basement, she said.

What they need, said Smith, is for the government to see the McConnell Lake flooding issue as a priority.

She said they did meet with Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn last week – but were not encouraged by the meeting.

The minister essentially said they were on their own, suggesting that any government action would have to be reviewed first by the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board, she said.

“They are just dragging their feet,” said Smith. “They are not taking any action on it.”

Andy Lera said he’s already pumping water from his basement. It’s coming from the level of ground water being increased by McConnell Lake.

Lowering the lake level by diverting water into the river would help a great deal, he said.

Lera said it would require a trench of about two kilometres long,

While there would have to be some planning and engineering to design the trench, it wouldn’t constitute rocket science, he suggested.

Lera said McConnell has been rising steadily over the last 15 or so years.

There are different theories regarding the rising water, he said.

One such theory is that the melting permafrost is contributing, as is the noticeable rise in precipitation over the last two winters, he said.

The government has commissioned a professional analysis of the situation by Tetra Tech.

The company just released a detailed 25-page report examining the situation and recommending trenches be built, he explained.

While there would be some technical issues in designing a trench, Lera said, there are companies in B.C. that are very experienced in flood mitigation measures.

He said 20 years ago, he had a dry meadow directly adjacent to his property that he could drive his truck across.

Now it’s got six feet of water in it.

Lera insisted that lowering the level of McConnell Lake would eliminate 99 per cent of the problem of properties flooding.

He said 99 per cent of the ground water flooding is coming from McConnell, so lowering the lake level would address 99 per cent of the ground water flooding.

Last year, the government provided him with a pump and fuel to keep the water level at bay. He said he was pumping water right through to October.

McConnell said this year, the government has provided a pump but no fuel.

As a pensioner, he said, he does not have the money to spend on fuel.

He said he was hit hard financially last year when flooding caused a break in his well casing, which was quite expensive to deal with.