To mitigate flooding in several residential areas in Saskatoon as well as increase the city’s resilience to climate change, a dry storm pond has been built in the north end of Churchill Park.
Mayor Charlie Clark says residents in the Churchill-Adelaide area have been burdened with basement flooding for many years, and some people refused to go on vacation in fear of coming home to severe water damage.

Saskatoon’s Flood Control Strategy aims to alleviate flooding by constructing nine of these dry storm ponds throughout the city by 2027. The Churchill storm pond, the second of the nine projects, functions as a large water reservoir during heavy rain events and doubles as a multipurpose recreational field, with built-in seating, when it is dry.

During a storm on June 3rd of this year, the pond served its purpose and was able to drain what it had collected off the streets in less than an hour after the rain had stopped.

In October of last year, the first storm drain was opened in Saskatoon’s W.W. Ashley Park, and construction is now underway on a third project in Weaver Park.

Mitch McMann, Storm Water Utility Manager, says the federal government contributed $21.6 million towards Saskatoon’s Flood Control Strategy. The Churchill storm pond generated a cost of roughly $5.8 million, and all nine projects are expected to cost a total of $54 million.