Water & Sewers

Vancouver has excellent drinking water. Even though we live in a rainy city surrounded by water, we need to take action to sustain our drinking water supply. Water supply is limited due to storage capacity and population growth. The City's Water Utility has a mission to provide our customers with an adequate and sustainable supply of high quality water.

Water and Sewers department has Water Conservation Programs and a drinking Water Quality Monitoring Program.

On the site you will find:

  • Indoor water saving kits and tips. Use less water indoors and save on your water heating bill.
  • Outdoor water saving kits and tips. Help prevent summer water shortages by using less water outdoors.
  • Kits are available at two locations. Revenue Services on the main floor of City Hall, 453 West Broadway, and at and Client Services located at 507 West Broadway. Kits are $12 each (retail value is approximately $30) Call 3-1-1for more information.
  • Rain-barrel program. The City of Vancouver has designed and manufactured rain barrels for use by residents for garden irrigation. The City subsidizes the cost by 50% and has sold over 3,000 to date and counting.

Sewers
The Vancouver Sewer Utility has a mission to proudly create, sustain and champion sewage and rainwater systems that protect public health, harmonize with the natural environment and optimize value for the community.

Separating Combined Sewers
Vancouver's sewer system is changing from a combined to a separated system. A combined system collects rain water and sewage together in one pipe. A separated system has one pipe for each to reduce overflows of combined rainwater and sewage into surrounding water bodies during periods of heavy rain. Reducing combined sewer overflows helps keep the water surrounding Vancouver healthy and clean.

  • The City's goal is to eliminate all combined sewer overflows by 2050.

Pollution Control
You can help the Sewer Utility keep Vancouver's streams, rivers and the ocean pollution free by taking simple actions around your home, yard and car.

  1. Don’t pour anything down the drain on your street. The street drains are designed to collect all the rain water run-off from the road, sidewalks, driveway, patios, and other impervious surfaces and convey it directly to nearby natural water bodies. So any liquid that goes down that drain winds up in your neighbourhood creek, stream, or the ocean.
  2. Dispose of grease in the garbage. Grease quickly turns into a solid in sewer pipes and can cause blockages that can lead to backups. Pour hot cooking grease into a container for cooling before disposing of it in the garbage.
  3. Minimize the volume of liquids entering the sewer system The best way to dispose of old or unwanted pharmaceuticals (drugs) is to return the unused portion to the pharmacy. Flushing them down the toilet is not a good practice. In many places around the world, trace levels of pharmaceuticals can be found in the water supply – let’s keep our water clean.
  4. Get your yard off drugsRain washes fertilizers and pesticides into our local waterways. If you must use these products make sure you use organic products and give yourself a break – apply them less frequently. For more info see Grow Natural
  5. Washing vehicles on the street is against the law When you wash a car on the street or your driveway, soap suds and grease and dirt from your car wash into the curb drain and enter our local waterways. The best way to avoid this is to wash your vehicle at a designated car wash station which have special drains, or to wash it on a non-paved surface so that the water can soak into the ground.

Street Drain Marking Program
The City supports community members to mark a yellow fish symbol beside street drains that discharge into local waters, to remind people not to pour anything down the drain.

To get involved in street drain marking, call the Environmental Protection Branch at 604.871.6540.

Integrated Rain Water Management
Vancouver’s Sewer Utility recognizes rainwater as a resource to be used within communities. The goal of integrated rainwater management is to keep rainwater within the natural water cycle while still protecting property and public safety. The Sewer Utility uses many different environmentally friendly rainwater management tools to optimize the value of this resource in our communities.

Protecting property and public safety often requires collecting run-off water and directing it to either the underground sewer or to areas in which it can be absorbed. Allowing the rainwater to soak into the ground helps recharge local water tables reducing the need for irrigation, reduces erosion in streams at outfalls, and decreases fluctuations in flow rates in streams.

  • Percolating catch basins: Engineers designed catch basins that allow the rainwater collected in them to percolate back in to the ground before being carried away in the sewer network.
  • Rain Gardens: Rain Gardens allow rainwater from the street to be channeled into the planted areas behind curbs. Here the water is able to percolate into the ground. Only when a storm is too severe and the ground can no longer absorb it will the excess water drain into the underground sewer. This helps reduce and slow the flow of water that would have otherwise quickly passed through the sewers and possibly into adjacent creeks. Reducing the rush of water and sediment from entering steams helps to support fish habitat by more closely mimicking natural processes
  • Swales: Swales allow run-off water to percolate into the ground, recharging local water tables.
  • Biofiltration:The Park Board and Vancouver’s Sewer Utility have collaborated on the creation of two biofiltration systems to clean run-off water before it is discharged into waterways. The Hastings pond at Hastings Park collects run-off water from the 300 acre residential area to the south of the park, cleans it through filtration, and discharges it into Burrard Inlet. Run-off water from the Stanley Park causeway is collected in the Lost Lagoon biofiltration pond where it is naturally filtered before discharging into Lost Lagoon. Before the creation of the pond this water ran untreated into Beaver Lake and Lost Lagoon.

Both biofiltration facilities provide aesthetic as well as environmental benefits.

Daylighting Streams
Daylighting streams is a way to restore streams that have been covered up through urban development. Many streams are buried too deep to uncover, but where possible, daylighting streams provides an educational tool for stream and environmental stewardship while enhancing our natural environment. Daylighted streams are a symbol of our natural history and an aesthetic community amenity.