Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Apr 30/04) - A year after demanding municipal and territorial governments take action, Ken Lambert is still watching water lap at his door.

Ken Lambert illustrates the depth of the water that had already pooled around his house last week. He blames the Village, the Department of Transportation and Municipal and Community Affairs for excessive run-off and a lack of drainage around his lot along the Four Mile Access Road in Fort Simpson. - Derek Neary/NNSL photo

Lambert, who has lived on a corner lot along the Four Mile Access Road since 1996, said nothing has been done to alleviate the annual pooling of water on his property every spring.

An engineer's report released last year confirms that the increasing height of Four Mile Access Road, through road maintenance, is contributing to the problem. If nothing is done and there's substantial precipitation, the report warns of water damage to Lambert's house, which was built in a subdivision without a drainage plan.

A culvert installed by the Department of Transportation at the nearby highway intersection in October, 2002, has made little difference.

"My place is going to float," Lambert said, acknowledging that his lot is on low ground, but insisting that the problem was never this bad several years ago.

"My question is what am I paying taxes for? I've seen better municipal water works in Argentina, the former Soviet Union and China."

Help is on the way, according to Les Shaw, superintendent of transportation for the Deh Cho. Shaw said his department has committed to suction the excess water from Lambert's lot. The culvert, which Shaw admitted was never sunk to an optimal depth, will be dug out and installed properly, he noted.

"There's nothing we can do to change the drainage in that area until things thaw out," he said.

The work wasn't done last year due to financial restraint, he added.

For its part, the Village has twice sent its employees out to thaw out the culvert this spring, said Bernice Swanson, senior administrative officer.

"After that (engineer's report) was issued, we did meet with Transportation and Ken (Lambert) and we've been thawing (the culvert), and I think that's as much as we're going to do at this point in time," Swanson said Monday.