The provincial government’s Municipal Wastewater Regulation requires all BC municipalities to have separate stormwater and sanitary sewer systems. Compliance with the provincial regulation is mandatory for the District of Oak Bay as it is for other jurisdictions in the province such as Burnaby, New Westminster and the City of Vancouver where single pipe infrastructure currently exists.  Separation of the combined sewers is an integral part of the Capital Regional District’s Core Area Liquid Waste Management Plan in compliance with the Municipal Wastewater Regulation.

The Uplands neighbourhood in Oak Bay currently has a single pipe system to accommodate both sanitary sewer and stormwater flows. During heavy rainfall, the storm water volume exceeds the capacity of the system and a combination of stormwater and raw sewage discharges into the shallow ocean waters at the Rutland and Humber pump stations. 

Preliminary Project Approval

At the Special Committee of the Whole on October 5, 2016 (agenda and recordings available here), the following recommendation was made unanimously:

That it be recommended to Council that:

1. The District of Oak Bay approve the recommendations of the pre-design report namely:

• Option 4, a shallower gravity based storm system, including two isolated areas requiring municipal stormwater pumps;
• Design by catchment area and not by construction phase;
• Construction on a phased project basis, beginning with the Humber catchment, with contract packages at a minimum of $2 million each; and
• Development of a plan for rehabilitation of the existing pipes; and

2. The District of Oak Bay approve the submission to the Capital Regional District requesting an amendment to the Capital Regional District’s Core Area Liquid Waste Management Plan.

The recommendation was then endorsed by Council on October 11, 2016.

Next Steps

The Capital Regional District endorsed the required amendment to the CRD’s Core Area Liquid Management Plan. This amendment was given conditional approval by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change on June 20, 2018.  Conditional approval is contigent on the District submitting follow up deliverables through the CRD, including a cost/benefit analysis of various potential timelines for project implementation, as well as an outline of a plan related to the rehabilitation of the existing sewers in their new roles as sanitary sewers going forward.  The District's response to the requests for further information related to condition approval can be found here; the District is awaiting the results of the process related to the Liquid Waste Management Plan.

In March of 2017, the District of Oak Bay was awarded a Clean Water Wastewater Fund grant of $324,958.  The purpose of the grant was to help the District progress with the detailed design of the Humber Catchment.  District staff worked with McElhanney Consulting Services Limited to complete this detailed design in spring 2018, providing the District with a shelf-ready project for implementation in the Humber Catchment.  The District submitted a grant applicaiton for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program grant application (in summer 2018) but was not successful.  The District submitted an application for the second intake of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program in February 2020.

Additional Information

Click here to access agendas, minutes and webcastings (where available) for the meetings listed below.