Underwater work on Belcarra's new $6.8-million drinking water pipeline across Indian Arm must be completed by the end of this month in accordance with a federal fisheries deadline.
And the recent arrival of a pipe-laying barge moored near Belcarra Regional Park signals that much of the submarine piping connecting North Vancouver and Belcarra is now complete, according to Linda Floyd, Belcarra's chief administrative officer.
The sub-aquatic water line is actually two 20 cm pipes which, when functional by March of next year, will supply more than 300 Belcarra homes with clean drinking water from the Greater Vancouver Water District system.
Floyd told The Tri-City News on Tuesday that all of the submarine emplacement work must be completed before the close of the federal fisheries window at the end of February, which protects fish spawning habitat in Moody Inlet and the Indian Arm.
The twin water pipes plunge below the seabed on the North Vancouver side at 4545 Strathcona Rd, skirting around Gr.ey Rocks Island and then will be suspended from anchors 40 m below the surface in the middle of Indian Arm.
Floyd said that every precaution would be taken so that anchor lines from ships and smaller vessels in the busy waterway won't interfere with the Tri-City community's water.
"It's going to be buried closer to the shores, both on the District of North Vancouver side and on the Belcarra side, and it's going to be armoured. And in the area in between, it'll be sunk down to a level to allow the passage of ships and boats and it's going to be held down with anchors," she said.
Floyd added that appropriate signage would also be posted in the area and updates made to maritime navigation equipment to warn boats against dropping anchor in the area.
In 2008, the village of Belcarra analyzed potential regional solutions and found linking with North Vancouver was cheaper than connecting with either Port Moody or Coquitlam.
The $6.8-million project was funded in large part by a joint $4-million federal-provincial infrastructure grant, while the remaining $2.8 million will be paid for by Belcarra property owners in the form of a levy paid at the same time as regular property taxes.
Belcarra municipal staff won't know the exact cost of that tax for residents until all of the bills are in by March 2012, Floyd said. In 2008, it was estimated that the levy would be $10,000 per property over 25 years, or $400 a year per household.
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