The most recent RM of Portage la Prairie council meeting chose to set aside the Mitigation and Preparedness contribution from the 2022 spring event into a reserve account. Reeve Kam Blight outlines how the money will be used and the significance of a reserve fund.

"Anytime there's a disaster financial assistance program put in place, municipalities are responsible for paying a deductible," says Blight. "The province Manitoba has set up a mitigation preparedness program. It's an opportunity for municipalities that if they choose to participate in this program, they can get their deductible returned to them provided they put it into a special fund that is specific to doing mitigation, and increasing preparedness, to help against any future disasters that may come."

He notes this preparedness might go toward protecting properties from flooding. Blight explains it gives municipalities an opportunity to reinvest back into their communities to help better prepare them and possibly lessen the impacts of certain disasters moving forward. 

"In order to do that, you have to establish a fund," continues Blight. "Our municipality has proceeded with doing that. We would like to participate in that program. All usages of that fund have to be through an approved means of the province of Manitoba. There are certain things that can be approved and not, so it's not just used for general operating. So, we've gone ahead and set up that fund and it's something we'll certainly be participating in."

Blight notes they put forward their deductible of roughly $50,000 into the program which will be used to improve water control structures. 

"In some cases, it's to to stop water from backfeeding and leaking through, so we can have proper gates in place or create a dike or berm to stop the same thing. Sometimes when the Assiniboine River level is quite high, that water will backfeed through some of the existing water control infrastructure that's in place in a leak that'll cause some flooding in other areas. These are dollars that can be utilized to help offset that."