Dundonald Storm Water Pond

As a parent of children at the Dundonald School, I regularly spent time in the school assisting with activities and field trips. Over time, I also heard directly from teachers and the principal about the previous Dundonald Dry Pond concerning mud and risk to students.

Another Professional Planner and I attended the City of Saskatoon open house concerning converting this dry pond to a permanent wet pond.

The City presented that Hampton Village storm water could not be stored in the newly planned development due to Transport Canada regulations about being so close to the airport where open water and waterfowl can be a hazard, so this water was to be sent down to the area by the Dundonald and St. Peter’s schools. That proved partially true after fact checking later on.

My colleague and I questioned the presenters about a host of issues around the potential for the underground storage of this water instead of a surface storage pond. It was conceded that the City did look at this as an option but that the maintenance and cost were prohibitive. The dry pond could not be left as it was as the newly elevated water flow rates during a storm event would pose serious bodily risk to anyone within the area at the moment of discharge.

The City presented that the new wet pond would have gently sloping sides with a gravel base so that no one could reasonably drown and that it would facilitate some ancillary recreational activities such as canoe training for the nearby schools. Still, the primary reason given for the pond was specifically for the Hampton Village development process.

My planning colleague and myself did not agree that this pond design was totally safe so close to schools (being specifically downhill from the playground of Dundonald School where balls could run away and draw children towards the water). We both returned home and did our own research to find, begrudgingly, that some jurisdictions had this gently sloping gravel base was deemed safe.

In 2017 when the little boy drowned, I then realized that the pond was no longer being kept as promised at the public hearing I attended.

At the public release of the City of Saskatoon report on the death, the Acting Engineering Manager stated that the pond was created in response to requests from the local community for a recreational area. No mention that the pond was actually created for the Hampton Village Development was ever indicated.

The Google Earth Image from 7/10/2005 shows a large pipe trench cut into Hampton Village and shows standing water in various Hampton Village areas that remain dry ever since.

The City General Manager told me at a meeting about another subject that this pond had to be converted to silt and weeds to filter the water quality before it entered the City system headed to the river. 

The only City of Saskatoon Storm Water Pond that was fenced prior to this little boy drowning was in a dog park on the east side of the city to keep the dogs out of the mud and water.