Depicts recommended riparian area management category zones along the major rivers and streams of Calgary. These categories are meant to guide land use planning, park management, and river engineering decisions. The spatial mapping of these categories also complements the Riparian Decision Matrix for River Engineering Projects, with the purpose of ensuring bioengineering practices are applied to the maximum extent feasible within The City of Calgary.

(Note: Updated inundation maps for 1:2 to 1:1000 floods are available from Alberta Environment and Parks (2020). The new draft maps can be viewed here: https://floods.alberta.ca/?app_code=FI&mapType=Draft)

These inundation maps show whether a property is at risk for various sized river floods. The size of flood shown on this map has a 1/8 or a 12.5% chance of occurring in any year.

The three distinct types of inundation shown on the maps are:
o Inundation - Area flooded overland due to riverbank overtopping.
o Isolated - Low lying areas that will not be wet from riverbank overtopping, but may experience groundwater seepage or stormwater backup.
o Potential failure of flood protection barrier - Low lying areas that could be flooded if an existing permanent flood protection barrier were to fail.

The flood areas shown were mapped in 2015 jointly by Alberta Environment and Parks and the City of Calgary, using the best available hydrologic and hydraulic data and models. As such, the flooding shown reflects 2015 conditions, hydrology and topography. The effects of mitigation measures (changes to reservoirs/dams or barriers) built since 2015 are not included. There is uncertainty inherent in predicting the effects of flood events, and this uncertainty increases for floods with less than a 1% chance of occurrence in any year. Any use of this data must recognizing the uncertainty with regards to the exact location and extent of flooding.

More information on flood mapping for Calgary is available at calgary.ca/floodinfo:
http://www.calgary.ca/UEP/Water/Pages/Flood-Info/Flood-Information.aspx?redirect=/floodinfo
For Calgary's River Flood story, see: https://maps.calgary.ca/RiverFlooding/

Calgary’s Regulatory Flood Map shows the floodway, flood fringe and overland flood zones. The map is used for land planning purposes, showing the designated flood zones where various development and building regulations apply. The map shows the regulatory flood zones for the Bow River, Elbow River, Nose Creek and West Nose Creek. An annotation file is provided separately as an attachment (see "About" menu"). This map is the 1:100 flood extent calculated in 1983.

Designated flood elevations (or steplines) associated with these zones are available separately.

For more on the development and building regulations that apply in each designated flood zone, please refer to Calgary’s Land Use Bylaw, Part 3 Division 3. http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/pd/Pages/Calgary-Land-Use-bylaw-1P2007/Calgary-Land-Use-Bylaw-1P2007.aspx

Are you building or renovating?
If you are building or renovating, check the regulatory flood map on this page, and the 1:100 year inundation map (from Flooding in Calgary: Maps http://www.calgary.ca/UEP/Water/Pages/Flood-Info/Calgary-flood-maps/Flood-maps.aspx) to see if your property is in a flood risk zone. Since late 2011, property owners have been advised of both the official designated flood elevation per the Land Use Bylaw (based on this regulatory flood map) and the most up to date recommended flood elevation (based on the updated 1:100 year inundation map) for their specific property.
For Calgary's River Flood story, see: https://maps.calgary.ca/RiverFlooding/

(Note: Updated inundation maps for 1:2 to 1:1000 floods are available from Alberta Environment and Parks (2020). The new draft maps can be viewed here: https://floods.alberta.ca/?app_code=FI&mapType=Draft)

These inundation maps show whether a property is at risk for various sized river floods. The size of flood shown on this map has a 1/500 or a 0.2% chance of occurring in any year.

The three distinct types of inundation shown on the maps are:
o Inundation - Area flooded overland due to riverbank overtopping.
o Isolated - Low lying areas that will not be wet from riverbank overtopping, but may experience groundwater seepage or stormwater backup.
o Potential failure of flood protection barrier - Low lying areas that could be flooded if an existing permanent flood protection barrier were to fail.

The flood areas shown were mapped in 2015 jointly by Alberta Environment and Parks and the City of Calgary, using the best available hydrologic and hydraulic data and models. As such, the flooding shown reflects 2015 conditions, hydrology and topography. The effects of mitigation measures (changes to reservoirs/dams or barriers) built since 2015 are not included. There is uncertainty inherent in predicting the effects of flood events, and this uncertainty increases for floods with less than a 1% chance of occurrence in any year. Any use of this data must recognizing the uncertainty with regards to the exact location and extent of flooding.

More information on flood mapping for Calgary is available at calgary.ca/floodinfo:
https://calgary.ca/flood
For Calgary's River Flood story, see: https://maps.calgary.ca/RiverFlooding/

Depicts basic components of The City of Calgary's 2007 Environmental Reserve (ER) Setback Guideline policy, including the base setback based on stream order, and the additional setback modifier based on slope. This can be used as a starting point to scope out riparian-associated ER requirements for planned future developments. It can also be used within existing built areas of the city to highlight past lost ER opportunities.

Identifies variable width biophysical riparian areas along major rivers and streams in Calgary, as of 2012. Four separate riparian zones are delineated: Inner Riparian, Middle Riparian, Outer Riparian, and Potential Outermost Riparian. Boundaries are based on city-wide models driven by distance from the river/stream, slope profiles from digital elevation models, and field work calibration based on sampling of riparian plant community locations. Note that the methods identify both developed and undeveloped riparian areas.