Climate change, storm damage straining Pitt Meadows drainage system, council hears

Facing mounting drainage infrastructure failures after months of intense storms, Pitt Meadows council has unanimously approved tapping reserves to cover urgent repairs across the city’s flood protection network.

Council voted May 5 to approve an additional $215,000 from the city’s drainage reserve to help fund emergency repairs tied to failing pump stations, roadway slips and deteriorating drainage infrastructure.

Coun. Alison Evans said drainage and flood protection systems are often overlooked until failures occur, but argued proactive investment is essential for a floodplain community.

“People don’t see this until it’s an emergency sometimes,” Evans said. “While price tags are difficult to hear, this is why good governance is important, not just politics. It speaks to being financially responsible.”

The funding will support repairs already underway at the Fenton and Pitt Polder pump stations, as well as a growing number of roadway and ditch failures city staff say have been worsened by increasingly volatile weather conditions.

“We haven’t gone over budget or spent the funds yet, but we do know there are some failures, and we are going to need to pay for those to get that back up and running,” director of engineering and operations Samantha Maki told council.

Maki said staff attempted to minimize the request by reallocating existing drainage budgets before asking council for additional reserve funding.

The city’s report outlined nearly $395,000 in urgent drainage-related costs, including approximately $80,000 for repairs to the Fenton Pump Station and another $100,000 to rebuild a failed pump at the Pitt Polder Pump Station.

Maki said the city was caught off guard by the failure of a second pump at Pitt Polder, which now has to be shipped out of province for rebuilding.

“The Pitt Polder Pump Station, we hadn’t anticipated the second pump there failing,” she said. “That’s a higher cost that we hadn’t been anticipating.”

While both pump stations remain operational because they each contain multiple pumps, Maki warned they are not currently functioning at full capacity.

Roadway and ditch failures have become another major concern following repeated storms between February and April.

“With the storm events we had through February through to April, the water level is changing and just older sections of road and impacts to compaction under the road, some of that has slipped away,” Maki said.

According to the report, slips have already occurred along Harris Road, Baynes Road, Reichenbach Road, McNeil Road, Ladner Road, Windsor Road and Hale Road, with at least four to six additional areas showing signs of instability.

One ditch failure stretched more than 100 metres long, staff noted.

Maki said the city expects additional failures throughout the year as fluctuating water levels continue impacting aging infrastructure.

“We do envision a number of those to still happen throughout the year,” she said. “I think that’s a sign of the storms and climate change itself and how the water levels are fluctuating in the ditch network.”

She added the city is no longer rebuilding failed areas “like-for-like,” instead using stronger fill materials designed to better withstand changing water conditions.

The report noted the city’s drainage reserve was already committed to previously planned projects, meaning the additional funding will temporarily require internal borrowing from the sanitary reserve until reserve balances improve in coming years.

Maki said staff plan to more closely examine long-term drainage funding needs through the city’s upcoming 2027 business planning process, including development of a potential 10-year drainage infrastructure strategy.

Coun. Mike Manion called the spending necessary.

“This is critical infrastructure, and I certainly approve the expenditure,” he said.

Evans said she was proud that the city’s paying attention, maintaining reserve funds, and being proactive. 

She also warned that increasingly severe weather tied to climate change is putting greater strain on municipal infrastructure systems.

“We know that it’s going to be a pretty scary summer, and then into winter with the rain and climate change that’s coming,” Evans said.

Mayor Nicole MacDonald echoed concerns about the importance of maintaining critical flood infrastructure in a city built largely on floodplain lands.

“You go in a little panic when it says urgent drainage repairs,” MacDonald said. “But we know it needs to be done, and as well have the reserves necessary.”