REGINA, Sask. — A decades-old floodplain regulation in Regina is changing.
On Wednesday, Regina city council unanimously approved adopting a new regulation protecting properties in the area from a one-in-200-year flood event.
The changes follow provincial amendments to The Statements of Provincial Interest Regulations in 2025, which shifted the floodplain standard from a one-in-500-year flood event set in 1982 to a one-in-200-year event.
“The 1-in-200-year floodplain is slightly less expansive than the 1-in-500-year standard and covers all properties that are within a risk of a 0.5 per cent chance of flooding occurrence each year or a 22.2 per cent chance of flood occurrence in a 50-year period,” notes the report.
Regina’s floodplain areas are located around Wascana Creek, Chuka Creek, Pilot Butte Creek, the South Storm Channel and the North Storm Channel.
Through this change, around 2,400 properties are impacted by the new regulations.
Current properties established before the new regulations will still be permitted to remain but cannot expand.
On the other hand, redeveloped properties can still be developed in the floodplain if adequate flood protection measures are implemented.
“If your new home is designed by an engineer and certified, with areas below the safe building elevation being watertight and structurally sound, then you can have a secondary suite,” said Ben Mario, manager of the city’s planning branch.
Without certification, water heaters are required to be on the main floor of the building to avoid flood damage.
Meanwhile, new greenfield areas will still be required to build developments outside the floodplain.
In the future, administration said it will have to consider climate change as a factor that could change regulations.
“If the impacts of climate change are found to be very much substantially different and if we have different models that suggest that our current data would be inaccurate, then it is possible we have to look into it,” said Mario.
Infrastructure development is also something the city has to monitor for changing water levels.
“When planning or upgrading a bridge crossing, consideration should be given to how the structure may affect flood flows and flood levels both upstream and downstream of the crossing. As infrastructure projects are proposed and designed, updated modelling may be required to assess potential impacts and to determine whether revisions to the floodplain mapping are warranted,” notes the report.
