Flood Management Strategy Update
The Engineering Department is updating the Flood Management Strategy to match with the current climate science and to have a more aligned strategy that meets newer regulations.
BackGrOUND
The City of New Westminster is the oldest incorporated city in the Province of British Columbia. Located on the north bank of the Fraser River, New Westminster covers 12 km2 of which 5 km2 are designated as floodplain areas. Within the floodplain, the land-use consists of commercial, industrial, single and multifamily residential properties.Approximately 350 hectares of land is dyke protected in Queensborough while 170 hectares is unprotected on the mainland.
The Strategy was first developed in 2009-2011 and provided a conceptual plan and feasibility plan with functional level city-wide flood protection maps/drawings. This can be found on the City's Floodplain Management Page .
What's Happening
As new data and science has been done regarding climate change, there is need to re-analyze the level of protection in the existing plan to determine if there is still the appropriate level of protection. The City is building off of the regional work completed by the Fraser Basin Council's Lower Mainland Flood Strategy and updating our Flood Management Strategy. This update is of a technical nature and will consider:
- Flood consequences/risk based on the most recent river modelling
- Desired flood protection based on the economic/social/environmental/public safety risk
- Current seismic standards and geo-technical considerations
- Environmental considerations including environmentally sensitive areas, contaminated areas and riparian areas
Timeline
- February 2021 - Project Kickoff
- End of 2022 - Final Updated Flood Management Strategy
- 2023 - Strategizing Next Steps