Solutions needed for recurring flooding on the Ottawa River

WHITEWATER REGION, Ont. – As water levels along the Upper Ottawa River are again damaging properties and creating undue hardships for property owners, some residents of the area are demanding a formal investigation into repeated flood events that have occurred since 2017, when changes were reportedly made in the management of the water levels.

Kevin Abrams said the problems started after the Ontario Power Generation (OPG) transitioned dam control operations from the Chenaux Generating Station to a centralized remote control room in Cornwall.

“Before this shift, the last major flood in the region occurred in 1978, but since 2017 the area has experienced five significant floods,” he stated. “These occurred in 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024, and 2025 and raises questions about whether operational changes have contributed to a dramatic increase in flood risk.”

According to sources within the property owner’s association, the 2017 transition included the retirement of experienced river operators with decades of localized knowledge managing water levels and flood prevention along the upper Ottawa River. The residents maintain this knowledge was never properly replaced and they have not been meaningfully consulted since the transition occurred.

“We’ve gone from one flood in 40 years to five in eight,” Mr. Abrams said. “There has been no transparency from OPG and no effort to engage with the people whose homes and livelihoods are being affected.”

Ongoing since 2017

Mr. Abrams and other property owners have been fighting this since 2017.

“It’s gotten to the point where it’s just ridiculous,” he remarked. 

He’s had properties on the river for 15 years, which were pretty much flood-free until 2017.

In the years identified above, he’s had at least three feet of water on his entrance road.

“We normally have 200 feet of beach, and right now we have zero feet of beach, and our retaining wall, the water’s six feet deep. It’s just a crazy amount of flooding, and the whole problem is, it’s so easily controlled if they just cared about the landowners and the property owners, and not pumping power through.

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“They don’t really do what is really part of their job, and that’s the frustrating part,” he continued. 

Mr. Abrams alleges there are two things leading to the problem – OPG does not lower the reservoirs to their own prescribed minimums all the way upriver, so there is not enough of a buffer for the spring freshet and OPG and Hydro Quebec hold back the water at Chenaux to generate maximum power. 

He said he has had over $300,000 in damages to his properties, having lived on three different locations on the river.

Back in October and November of 2024, he noticed the water was too high again, but again, no one listened.

“In 2023, 2024, and 2025, we’ve flooded all three years,” he said. “And none of them we’re crazy winters.”

He said whenever property owners raise the issue, they are told the dam operators are simply doing their job and following directions. He and other residents are growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of help they are receiving from elected officials.

“We’re kind of at our wits end here,” he stated. “That’s the hard part.”  

Mr. Abrams said residents are calling for OPG to release its post-2017 flood management protocols; the Township of Whitewater Region to launch a municipal-level inquiry; MPP Billy Denault and MP Cheryl Gallant to push for provincial and federal reviews and the Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board to provide public accountability.

He said if a fire truck or ambulance needs to get to his residence, they can’t because there is three feet of water on his road. 

He added if the hydro company quit focusing on profits and started considering the property owners, things would be different.