Frog Pond report confirms the obvious but offers no solution

By Mark Squibb / December 29 2023

A long-awaited hydrogeological report confirms what residents of Frog Pond Road have believed all along — that construction on the street nearly two years ago diverted water away from the gully causing it to dry up.

Back in July, council hired engineering consultant firm Stantec to investigate what has caused water levels in Frog Pond to drop.

Council adopted that report, the Frog Pond Hydrogeological Assessment, last week.

“As my fellow councillors know, I’m a little frustrated with this whole issue, and that’s putting it lightly,” said Ward 1 councillor Shelley Moores during the meeting. “It is what it is, and we are where we are now. Could things have been done differently? Well, possibly, but now we know what the problem is and we are aware of what we need to do, and I look forward to having some really good conversations around how we can fix this problem in a timely manner and hopefully get Frog Pond back to the way it was if at all possible.”

Stantec says the water and sewer construction on Frog Pond Road and the repaving, which actually built the road up higher than its previous incarnation using compacted stone and fill, diverted the underground water flows that had previously run into the gully. Those below surface sources are now diverted towards Topsail Road, away from Frog Pond.

Mayor Darrin Bent said he appreciated Stantec’s work, and the Town will keep in contact with Stantec following adoption of the report.

“They have identified the cause as ground water run off being interrupted and going, as it would during normal construction, down a ditch instead of through the road and into the pond,” said Bent.

He noted the provincial government has suggested the Town continue to monitor the situation and maintain a “wait and see” attitude.

“I’m not sure that that’s what we’re going to do or not,” said Bent. “I think all of us around the table share counillor Moores’ frustrations. And I’m not being critical of Stantec, but it took longer than I certainly wanted it to take. It dragged on a little bit… But here we are, and at least we know now. What, if any action, will be required will have to be determined from here.”

In a budget interview with both Bent and Deputy Mayor Andrea Gosse, both maintained that the diversion is the result of normal construction work.

“This is standard with infrastructure construction,” said Gosse. “It’s designed so that you don’t cause water build up. Any runoff should follow the line of the pipe.”

And while the report summarizes the problem, it offers no solutions as to how to address it,

“(The report) doesn’t make recommendations, it just makes findings,” said Bent. “The recommendation portion is the next step, which we’ve asked them to do.”

Bent said he believed a recommendation may be coming shortly, and may have already been in the hands of staff at the time of the interview, though it had yet to be discussed by council.

Property owner Randy Bell said he was expecting the long-awaited Stantec report would have offered solutions to the issue.

“They’ve acknowledged all the things we already know,” said Bell. “But the thing is, they haven’t come up with a solution to getting water back into the pond or keeping water in the pond. At least not in the report, although they may have another report forthcoming that I haven’t seen yet.”

Bell said that he’s spoken with both Mayor Darrin Bent and the Town’s engineering staff, and that all hands seem eager to find a solution. Bent is the only member of council who has spoken with him directly since the gully dried out, Bell said.

“I was expecting Stantec to make some recommendations to council,” added Bell. “Really, what this report is what we already all know. I thought Stantec would have some ideas about what to do to fix it. But I haven’t heard from them, nor have I heard anything from council (since the report was released) so I’m no further ahead than I was the last time we talked.”

Bell, whose family has always allowed the public to skate and play shinny on the pond, even though it’s located on private land, said the issue is that water is no long feeding into the pond, and whatever water makes it to the pond is leaking out. He still hopes a solution will be forthcoming.

“The report is only a recap of what happened,” said Bell. “I don’t know if Stantec has any solutions or not. I’m assuming that if they haven’t got them, they’re working on them, because they have to come up with some kind of a plan to repair it, I would think. So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what comes out of all that.”

Bent meanwhile said no money had been set aside “specifically” for Frog Pond remediation, although funds could be moved around if necessary.