Rocky View County (RVC) says answers haven't been forthcoming from the province on pressing questions on the Springbank Dry Reservoir project, and that is something that just doesn't sit well with them.

Now the county has set aside $200,000 to get the technical expert advise they will need to decipher the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being prepared by Alberta Infrastructure and determine if they will fly the red flag

On May 23, county council agreed to pull the funds from their tax stabilization reserve to complete a technical review of the EIA upon its completion. They will focus their analysis on the human health impacts, infrastructure impacts and overall project effectiveness. The EIA is a significant document and will form the basis of the province's application to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (DEAA) and Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) hearing. Should the county find reason to challenge its content it will trigger a public hearing  by the NRCB, who have the authority to automatically give the thumbs up should no objections be raised

"It's to basically to keep us educated as to what their findings are," says RVC Reeve Greg Boehlke. "It's a matter of keeping up and making sure this plan doesn't just get rammed through."

Council hasn't come out and condemned the idea but they are unhappy with a lot of the variables of this particular plan, says Boehlke, and they advocate looking at alternative solutions.

Should flooding occur the land set aside to contain excess waterflow will be left with inorganic silt, making it a wasteland, he explains. And when it dries, the windy conditions through the area will create a dust problem.

And then there's the question of Springbank Road.

"When it floods, the Springbank Road will be under water. Now, who's going to pay for that? "

"We are wondering about the infrastructure and these are all answers we can't get from the government. We want those questions answered, we want to know what effect it has on our taxpayers and landowners. So far we can't get answers to these questions and if we get asked we don't know what the answers are."

He said other, less financial formidable solutions have been proposed previously. .

"We understand the need for flood protection for the city, but it should be the best plan, not the one that is the easiest. This has probably become way more expensive than it should be,"