The City of Vancouver has completed three major sewer upgrade projects worth a combined $18 million, replacing aging combined sewer pipes with separate storm and sanitary systems to reduce flood risk and protect local waterways, according to a news release from the City of Vancouver.
Delivered under the city’s 2023-2026 Capital Plan, the projects separate systems that previously carried both sewage and rainwater together. According to the news release, the separation reduces street-level flooding, protects waterways and boosts capacity to serve Vancouver’s growing population.
Mayor Ken Sim said the investments target infrastructure that, though largely unseen, is essential to daily life and will help make the city more resilient.
In the largest of the three projects, crews used trenchless construction to install 400 metres of storm and sanitary pipe beneath Highbury Street and Memorial West Park for $7.5 million. The method let the city complete the work faster while keeping the park open and saving more than 20 mature trees. That project wrapped up in July.
A $7.3 million project in Shaughnessy separated 5.8 kilometres of combined sewer pipe between West 26th and West 29th avenues, with new curbs and repaving added to improve street safety. According to the news release, the upgraded infrastructure is built to last roughly 100 years. Construction is expected to finish in early September.
The third project, a $3.3 million upgrade on East 35th Avenue, separated 135 metres of pipe between Main and Quebec streets and added new curbs and repaving. That work was completed in May.
The city says the projects support its Healthy Waters Plan, a broader strategy to protect waterways, address climate change, and modernize aging sewer infrastructure, and that further updates will follow as more projects move ahead.
