The City of Vancouver has approved the $656 million Healthy Waters Plan, a 70 per cent investment increase in sewage and draining systems over the next four years.

The Healthy Waters Plan will be vital in cost-effectively addressing pollution from combined sewer overflows and rainwater runoff, renewing aging infrastructure, enabling housing and growth, and responding to climate change through investments that include nature-based solutions like green rainwater infrastructure.

“Better infrastructure will allow us to see healthier ecosystems and safer, cleaner waterways around our city,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “The Healthy Waters Plan will help us deliver on Vancouver’s long-range growth strategy, the Vancouver Plan, while protecting the environment, and ensuring resilient and sustainable service delivery in the years to come. It also advances our commitments in the UNDRIP Strategy and the Rain City Strategy.”

Since the 1970s, the City has been replacing combined pipes with separated pipes, and since 2010 we have been accelerating the implementation of green rainwater infrastructure. Green rainwater infrastructure uses soil and plants to capture and treat rainwater closer to where it falls, reducing the volume of rainwater entering pipes. This work is happening alongside policies and community initiatives that address pollution at the source, and promote development and behaviour that reduce water use.

Green rainwater infrastructure is also a core tactic of the Rain City Strategy which reimagines the city’s design to embrace rainwater as a valued resource while setting a target of capturing and cleaning 90% of rainwater.

“The Healthy Waters Plan is the kind of leadership other major cities around Canada and North America can look at as an example of what needs to be done in addressing sewage pollution at the root of the issue,” said Mark Mattson, CEO of Swim Drink Fish.