Nine billion litres. That's how much drinking water the City delivers each year to the more than 52,898 residents and 500 businesses who call it home.
As part of Metro Vancouver, the City receives its fresh water supply from the Capilano and Seymour watersheds - learn more about Metro Vancouver reservoir water quality and testing. In order to ensure safe, clean, reliable water, City staff sample and test the water weekly, and water mains are flushed and cleaned annually and/or replaced or repaired as needed. Metro Vancouver's Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant also provides a three-phase treatment process to address potential water quality issues such as waterborne diseases, seasonal turbidity and corrosion.
Water Quality
Distribution of high quality water is a key function of our Water Utility operations. The City purchases water from Metro Vancouver and distributes it to all of our residents and businesses. We are required to meet the stringent water quality standards that are reviewed and enforced by Vancouver Coastal Health. As part of this program, water quality is sampled at a minimum of every two weeks, for testing by Metro Vancouver. The City's test results summarized in annual reports are available below.
Water turbidity (cloudy water) can increase as a result of extremely heavy rainfall on the steep mountainous terrain above the region's water supply lakes. Turbidity occurs when sediment is transported into water reservoirs by runoff. In times of increased turbidity disinfection levels are increased to maximize water quality. Boil water advisories may be issued by the Chief Medical Officer on a situational basis.
Discoloured Water
Sometimes neighbourhoods see brief periods of discoloured (yellow-brownish) water as sediment in the watermains is stirred up. This happens infrequently, but may be caused by vibrations from construction activity or from unusually high water velocity inside the watermains caused by activities such as fire suppression. Discoloured water can also occur within a building due to stirring-up of sediment in your hot water tanks, especially if only the hot water is coloured. The City conducts an annual watermain flushing program to remove sediment from our watermains and minimize discoloured water events, but these events occasionally occur in all water systems.
Discoloured water is typically an aesthetic issue, and is not necessarily a health concern. If your water is discoloured or contains sediment, simply run the taps in your home for 5–10 minutes to help clear the residue from the pipes.
Lawn Watering Restrictions
Lawn watering regulations are in effect throughout Metro Vancouver from May 1 to October 15. For more information visit cnv.org/LawnWatering.
Development and Fire Flow Information
The City of North Vancouver Engineering department is continuously planning, reviewing, and implementing changes to our water system, especially due to new developments and increased demands. For new development applications requiring a new water service for fire sprinklers, please email your request, along with the following information to: FireFlowRequest@cnv.org.
The following information is required:
- Applicant Name
- Development Address
- Fire System Designer Name and Contact Info
- Proposed Base Water Demand (l/s)
- Proposed Daily Average Demand (l/s)
- Proposed Maximum Daily Demand (l/s)
- Proposed Peak Hour Demand (l/s)
- Proposed Sprinkler Demand (l/s)
- Required Design Information
Based on this required information, the City Engineering department will conduct a system review and provide any design information based on our water system model. These reviews usually take about 10 working days, unless field testing is required. Please note that we cannot conduct a system review without the required information.
Contact Info
City of North Vancouver
Engineering Department
Tel: 604-983-7333 or 604-987-7155
Email: eng@cnv.org
Metro Vancouver
www.metrovancouver.org
Vancouver Coastal Health
Tel: 604-675-3800
www.vch.ca