Current Water Projects
The Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) has a number of water projects planned in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR), formerly the Demonstration Forest, that effect land use. Projects include:
The Water Filtration Plant construction project will have great impact on the long term future of the LSCR and planning is underway so the rest of this update deals with those plans.
Capilano Water to be pumped to LSCR for Filtration
Project Background. The GVRD is planning to build water filtration capacity for some time to improve the quaility of our water supply. The Water Filtration project is huge - 14 hectares of the LSCR will used for construction of the plant and underground holding tanks as pictured below. The plant will be located at the Rice Lake gates, just east of Lillooet Road and occupy an area southward. The filtration plant is being constructed for a number of reasons, primarily to eliminate turbidity (cloudy water) caused by heavy winter rain runoff in the mountains. For GVRD information about the Seymour filtration project, see Seymour Filtration Plant Project Overview
Artist rendering of possible design for filter plant
Related projects. The GVRD has three primary supplies for the Lower Mainland's water: Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam reservoirs. A new water treatment facility has been completed in 2000 for Coquitlam water supply that included ozone treatment. Planned ozone treatment upgrades to the Capilano facilities was cancelled since the region's medical health officers now require significantly lower levels of turbidity in drinking water than previously allowed. Filtration is apparently the best treatment option to meet these new turbidity levels, and the GVRD now proposes to filter Capilano water by about 2006. The GVRD has been exploring three alternative sites for the Capilano filtration plant: the construction of new filtration plant at the Capilano source on one of two possible local sites OR pumping the water to the an expanded Seymour plant and treating the water in the LSCR facility.
What's New. The GVRD is favouring the option that will see Capilano water piped to the new LSCR facilities for filtration and chlorination. Because water in Capilano Lake exceeds the acceptable level of turbidity on an average of 55 days a year, the Capilano supply and treatment system would be shut down during the winter months and portions of the spring and fall. Filtration of Capilano water would see water pumped through a 7.6- kilometer long, three-meter diameter rock tunnel. Treated water would be returned to Capilano through a parallel 7.6-km rock tunnel. The tunnel would be in bedrock, 80 to 200 meters below the surface. Residual sludge from the construction of the tunnels will be stored at the gravel pit at the 5 km point on the pipeline road in the LSCR and used for the future dam upgrade project.
Community Involvement Wanted. The decision to tunnel water to Seymour for filtration is influenced by a number of factors including financial consideration, technical analysis, environment and community impacts. The Grousewoods/Capilano Community Association opposition to the negative community impacts of construction at the proposed Capilano sites has been publicized well. While expansion of the Seymour facility will disrupt the communities on Lillooet Road, the community and impacts are smaller. In the Seymour area, we need to be involved in the public input process to ensure that our smaller community needs are being considered in these very large projects. If you'd like to be involved through the SVCA, email: lscr@seymourvalley.ca
LSCR Links
|
|
Articles
| Date | Article | Author |
|---|---|---|
| January, 2003 | Local LSCR Usage Survey Results | SVCA |
| February 26, 2002 | CMAC Agenda | DNV |
| January, 2001 | LSCR Brochure | GVRD |
