About 123 residential neighbourhoods and 26 industrial parks will be studied in this program. Engineering assessments are currently underway to assess the drainage systems in these areas to help identify potential mitigation measures.

Potential improvements include improving overland drainage routes, constructing new stormwater management dry ponds such as those in Lendrum, Malmo, Aldregrove, Belmead and Prince Rupert, and building new underground storage tunnels and sewers. Where practical, other drainage improvements will be incorporated in the combined sewer service communities.

Finding suitable locations within mature communities to construct and retrofit stormwater management facilities and major drainage routes will be a challenge. The anticipated strategy will be to use open fields on school yards and community recreational parks. A program of this magnitude is the first of its kind to be carried out by any municipality in North America.

The overall program framework, including a prioritized list of project and implementation schedules, will be finalized in 2018 with implementation expected to start in 2019. Based on previous flood mitigation capital programs in other parts of the city, it is estimated that approximately $25 - $50 million capital investment will be needed per year. This means that the program will be implemented over a period of about 50 -100 years.

This time frame will be reviewed taking into consideration project sizes and complexities, public consultation requirements, attainable workloads for the workforce, and coordination with other City projects. The City will be looking at developing strategies with industry together with the City’s own construction resources to maximize and provide ongoing capacity to deliver the program.