The chair of the Seine/Rat River Conservation district expects the greatest risk of flooding within the district this spring will be along the Roseau River. Cornie Goertzen says it doesn't appear there will be any flooding problems further north in the conservation district around Steinbach.

"The area that I would be thinking about is the Roseau River. There could be a fair bit of water coming there. It's quite far south from here but it has a major effect on the area where it runs through. Here (around Steinbach), I think we're going to be okay because the snow melt has happened to a large degree already. Unless we get a severe rain storm or a lot more snow, the run-off should not be much more than just a normal run-off."

Goertzen notes the Conservation District pays close attention to flood events because they show where it can do a better job of storing water to avoid flooding in the

Area shaded grey is the Roseau River watershed.future. He notes they have identified some areas for future projects along the Roseau River where water could be stored on crown land to prevent flooding.

"We did a tour last summer and there are a number of projects that could move ahead on the Roseau which would have a big (positive) effect on people downstream and would have a minimal negative effect on people upstream. This is talking about areas where there is crown land and where no one is living and there's potential for holding back a fair bit of water."

Goertzen says the projects are contingent on government funding.

Meanwhile, he says it appears the big challenge for municipalities this spring will be trying to open culverts because many of them are plugged by ice. That could lead to some localized flooding until culverts are steamed open, something he says is a slow, arduous process.