Construction Practices

Poor construction practices lead to sediment in our streams

This sediment negatively impacts aquatic life in our streams. For example, it clogs and cuts the gills of salmon and smothers their eggs as they incubate in the streams.

In the District and City of North Vancouver, most storm drains lead to streams. Please make sure that only clean water enters storm drains.

The District of North Vancouver summarizes requirements for residential construction sites in a brochure entitled “Sediment and Erosion Control and Tree Protection – Residential Construction

Best practices

  • Only clean water can leave the site
  • Keep sediment on your site, not on the road
  • Cover exposed soil and soil stockpiles
  • Use a sediment trap to make sure water is clean before it is discharged from the site
  • Keep road clean
  • Use catch basins protection to catch accidental discharges of dirty water
  • Protect any trees on the property
  • Cover storm drain grates when applying asphalt, sealant, concrete etc so that pollutants do not enter storm drains

Things to look for

  • Lack of filter system for sediment on site
  • Exposed soil
  • Dirty runoff – may need sediment filter system on site
  • Dirty road
  • Lack of catch basin protection, or poorly installed protection
  • Dirty catch basin protection – it is the contractor’s responsibility to keep the catch basin clean
  • Trees that are not protected
  • Storm drains where the drain guards are not removed once the development is complete
  • People washing cement trucks and allowing the runoff to go down the storm drian
  • Storm drain grates that have not been covered during application of toxins to the road

Please report problems that you see in your neighbourhood

Issues to record when reporting events

  • date, time and location
  • construction company if available
  • weather – has it rained recently?
  • description – turbid (not transparent), oily, coloured
    • Different descriptions may indicate different problems and different reporting process
  •  

In the District of North Vancouver, send an email to environment@dnv.org with details of the problem

In the City of North Vancouver, contact Operations Division 604-987-7155 (M-F, 8 – 4:30) & 604-988-2212 (after hours emergency)

Resources

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Wednesday, March 20, 2024
7:00-9:00 PM
Location: Mollie Nye House (basement), 940 Lynn Valley Rd, North Vancouver