Delta council last week endorsed a staff recommendation for a grant request to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) for Boundary Bay dike improvements.
The funding request under the UBCM’s Disaster Risk Reduction - Climate Adaptation program, if approved, would see $2 million granted for raising the dike in a pilot project between 72nd and 88th streets.
The program's application deadline was Feb. 24, so staff had already submitted an application, but required council’s endorsement to complete the application package.
The proposed project would improve approximately 750 linear metres of dike by increasing the dike crest elevation from approximately 3.4 metres to 4.7 metres geodetic along the Boundary Bay Dike Trail to address future sea level rise.
A report to council notes that the detailed design of the dike improvements is complete and has been submitted to the province for approval.
The original scope of the project was to undertake a 200-metre section of dike upgrades as a pilot project with funding from Delta's 2023 capital plan, but if the grant submission is successful, it would provide additional funding to further extend the upgrades.
“Similar to all coastal communities, Delta needs to raise its dike elevations to increase flood resilience. The current dike crest elevation of the Boundary Bay Dike is 3.5 metres on average. The Boundary Bay dikes have a history of storm related wave overspray. In the recent past, Delta has been adding riprap rock armouring along the Boundary Bay Dike to protect the dike structure. With future sea levels expected to rise, it is imperative that the dike be raised to adequately protect the community from future flooding,” the report notes.
To minimize the cost, Delta is proposing to use construction fill as an innovative method to raise dikes.
Coun. Dylan Kruger, who chairs Metro Vancouver’s Flood Resiliency Committee, said the 2021 flooding of Sumas Prairie highlights that action is needed immediately.
“The events of the Sumas flood a couple of years ago really reminded all local governments in the Lower Mainland that we can’t continue to compete with each other for scarce senior government grant funding. We have to collaborate and work together and try to find some sort of scientific, objective means of prioritizing our diking and flood mitigation needs across the region. Because, when one of our municipalities hit, we’re not in isolation. The entire region is affected, so there is some urgency in this,” said Kruger.
While the B.C. government is moving forward with formulating a new flood strategy, work needs to continue regionally on the issue as well, he added.
Providing feedback on the British Columbia Flood Strategy Intentions Paper, Metro Vancouver recently made a series of recommendations to the province, including that the government establish long-term and predictable funding.
The City of Delta had already provided similar feedback.
Delta Engineering Director Steven Lan had told council that the current estimated cost to upgrade the city’s 67 km of dikes and associated pump stations is approximately $1.9 billion.