A few years back, I posted a report on the state of the dike network in the Lower Mainland. A 2015 report found that “almost all of the dikes are substandard and most will not withstand the provincially adopted design flood events.”
The provincial government transferred the responsibility of maintaining dikes to a patchwork of municipalities and diking authorities more than 20 years ago. The results have been inconsistent maintenance of dikes and a network that doesn’t meet modern flood protection standards.
One of the gaps right now is the lack of an over‐arching organization that can help coordinate flood management, including dikes. However, the Metro Vancouver Regional District is doing some of that work now. They recently completed documenting and mapping all flood-related improvement projects in the region since around 2010.
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| Map of flood-related capital projects in Metro Vancouver from around 2010 to today. Select the map to enlarge. Source: Metro Vancouver |
They found that 47% of dikes are in a poor state of repair, and most do not meet modern flood protection standards, including the risk of overtopping durning a flood event or being damaged during an earthquake.
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| Summary of dike vulnerabilities and state of repair in Metro Vancouver. Source: Metro Vancouver |
With this understanding, the Regional District is now looking at putting together a prioritization list for flood management projects to help reduce the risk in our region. Local authorities could use this data to help secure funding from the federal and provincial governments based on risk level.
While work has been done to reduce flood risk, we have much more work to do.
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