Waterworks! : managing water on the False Creek mud flats

This thesis proposes an alternative sewer and storm water management strategy for a newly proposed mixed-use light industrial community that is to reside on the 10.0 hectares Trillium & city park site. This site is currently up for redevelopment on the False Creek Flats of Vancouver. The potential environmental impacts of this development on the adjacent False Creek Inlet, and the Pacific Ocean will be fairly significant if new ecological models of sewer and storm water management are not implemented. The methodology is broken down into five parts. The first section describes the local policies and that are centered on water quality and protection. The second section describes the natural hydrological cycle, and how the conventional sewage and stormwater system disrupts the natural interaction of water with the landscape. This is followed by a brief outline of the environmental impacts that are associated with conventional stormwater and wastewater treatment. The third section explores some of the precedents and case studies that have successfully implemented alternative stormwater and wastewater management strategies on the community level. The fourth section gives a description of the Trillium site, covering the history and its present day conditions. The fifth section outlines the design program for the Trillium site that is based on the outcome of the preceding analysis. The final section proposes an alternative sewage and stormwater management design for the Trillium site based on the findings described in the design program. In conclusion the final design proposal for the Trillium site illustrates how an alternative sewage and stormwater management model can be effectively implemented into a community design to meet specific environmental water quality standards and local policy. However, the healing and ongoing protection of local waterways would require that all communities throughout the city and the Lower Mainland adopt similar alternative systems. The central idea then is to prohibit pollution of water altogether, rather than simply permitting specified amounts of pollutants into the environment. Only then will we really start to live in closer harmony with the natural world.Applied Science, Faculty ofArchitecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School ofGraduat