In the planning process for over a couple of years, Delta's Living Dike Pilot Project, also known as the Boundary Bay Foreshore Enhancement Project, is to be an alternate form of foreshore flood protection.
It’s to develop and test a method of supplying sediment and vegetation on the foreshore to help existing salt marsh habitats increase in elevation and keep up with sea level rise, known as a living dike.
The pilot project involves designing and constructing a 250-linear-metre section of raised salt marsh in the foreshore along Boundary Bay near 96th Street.
The salt marsh may be able to absorb wave energy reducing the overall wave height that will assist in reducing the dike design elevation and possibly lengthen the timelines for dike raising activities, according to the engineering department.
Engineering director Steven Lan told the Optimist that the project is going through the final stages of regulatory approvals. Once received, the city will have a better idea of possible construction timelines, he said.
A coalition led by the City of Surrey with West Coast Environmental Law, Semiahmoo First Nation and the City of Delta had received $76 million in funding from Infrastructure Canada's Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund for 13 projects, one of which is Delta's Living Dike Pilot Project.
Delta’s share of that funding was $750,000 and the city contributed the same amount.
