Water quality monitoring strategies for Metro Vancouver: A framework that informs source identification and drainage system performance
Peter S. Ross, Marie Noel, Melany Sanchez and Samantha Scott. 2026. Water quality monitoring strategies for Metro Vancouver: A framework that informs source identification and drainage system performance.
Prepared for Metro Vancouver by Raincoast Conservation. https://metrovancouver.org/services/liquid-waste/Documents/water-quality-monitoring-strategies-metro-vancouver.pdf
This report was produced with the financial support of Metro Vancouver.
The authors wish to acknowledge the helpful feedback from Kristen Walters, Farida Bishay and Andjela Knezevic-Stevanovic. Layout and design by Sherwin Arnott, Alex Harris, and Nicole Van Zutphen. Cover illustration by Rosemary Connelli.
This report was prepared on the lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Water is vital to all
The strength in water quality monitoring programs lies in the generation of high quality data that are comparable over time and space. Historically limited scientific information regarding Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in the environment has constrained an understanding of urban water health. This has impacted the ability of communities to protect or improve fish habitat in Metro Vancouver. New knowledge, legislation, and guidelines regarding CECs have emerged over the past 10 years, along with evidence of increasing impacts associated with climate change. This has led to new challenges – as well as opportunities – for the 23 MV members as they enter the next LWMP cycle. One thing is clear: water is vital to all, and its protection requires a strong understanding of the activities that threaten its health.
Executive summary
Clean water is vital to people and wildlife in the Metro Vancouver (MV) region, providing safe drinking water, clean habitat for fish and wildlife, an abundance of recreational opportunities, and traditional food sources central to the way of life of First Nations.
Despite its importance, clean water faces pressure from contaminants, urban developments, and floods, droughts, and fires associated with climate change.
Metro Vancouver and its 23 member jurisdictions (Figure 1) are developing the next Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP), which will guide the management of liquid waste in the region and influence the health of urban waters. This plan provides MV and its members with an opportunity to modernize its approach to managing the quality of receiving waters, build on the successes of the previous LWMPs, and protect urban waterways for people and wildlife. This new plan also provides an opportunity to consider environmental, scientific, social and regulatory developments since the inception of the previous Integrated Liquid Waste and Resource Management Plan (ILWRMP) in 2011, and to consider new tools that can help communities meet future operational and environmental performance goals. One important aspect of this future performance pertains to sanitary and stormwater separation and management.
Protecting water quality is everyone’s business. Contaminants from households, farms, industry and roads enter the region’s sewer and storm sewer systems, and infiltrate urban waterways. Poor water quality degrades fish habitat, reduces recreational opportunities and impedes Indigenous uses of aquatic ecosystems. A critical element of ensuring healthy urban waters in Metro Vancouver is an understanding of the threats to water quality, to document the sources of these threats, and to apply management approaches to protect the region’s waters. A modernized approach to liquid waste management in the region will allow Metro Vancouver and its members to contribute to partnerships, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building with First Nations through the BC Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA).
This report considers the emerging issues facing Metro Vancouver and its member jurisdictions, and proposes a water quality management roadmap for the coming decade. Important considerations herein are i) measures for drainage system performance that illustrate the value of engineering investments, ii) forensic tools to identify sanitary infiltration in stormwater and urban waters, and iii) the importance of a collaborative approach to water quality monitoring that helps to deliver healthy urban waters to the MV community and beyond.
Figure 1: Metro Vancouver provides leadership on water quality management throughout its 23 member jurisdictions, collectively serving over 2.6 million residents
