Drainage and plumbing, Victoria Drive
Drainage and Plumbing on Victoria Drive, Vancouver
This is the Victoria Drive corridor through Victoria-Fraserview, the 5705 block down to the 8485 block, on the south facing slope between Knight Street and Vivian Drive.
It is also the one neighbourhood in Vancouver where the City went looking for private drain lines plumbed into the wrong pipe and wrote down what it found. We camera the line before anybody quotes a number, and the footage is yours.
Signs worth putting a camera on
The City’s own list of how extra water gets into a sewer starts with cracks from damage, age or tree roots, leaky joints, and drains connected to the wrong line. This is what that looks like from inside the house.
- Water on the basement slab after heavy rain, in the same corner every time
- A downspout or perimeter drain you cannot trace to a visible outlet
- Slow drains on more than one fixture at once
- The toilet gurgles when the washer or a sink drains
- A sewer smell in the basement or in a suite
- Standing water in the yard over the line of the perimeter drain
- A sump pump cycling far more often than it used to
A hundred metre hill, two thirds clay pipe
Victoria-Fraserview stretches north from the Fraser River to E 41st Avenue, Knight Street on the west, a line of Elliott Street and Vivian Drive on the east. It sits on a south facing slope looking over the river toward Richmond, and the fall is about 100 metres from the E 41st end down to E Kent Avenue South. The gentle part is the top. Between E 61st Avenue and SE Marine Drive the ground drops roughly 50 metres over about 420 metres of ground, which is around a 12% grade. Everything uphill leaves through here on its way to the river.
The pipe under it is old. Of 1,930 City sewer main segments in the neighbourhood, 1,283 are vitrified clay, about two thirds, and only 99 segments are PVC. 855 segments still carry combined effluent, so about 44% of the system is one pipe for rain and sewage together. Under the Victoria Drive strip itself the combined share climbs to 61%, and 128 of 225 segments there are clay. The City puts the life expectancy of an underground sewer main at approximately 100 years, and it is working toward the Province’s goal of replacing every combined system with a separated one by 2050.
There are two housing stocks on this hill. The numbered avenue grid up top is the Vancouver Special belt, 47.1% of it built between 1960 and 1979. Below it sit the curved Fraserview streets, Upland, Harrison, Muirfield, Prestwick, Qualicum and the rest, twenty of whose names exist nowhere else in Vancouver. Those started as a 1950s layer and their biggest decade is now the 1990s at 30.9%, which means newer houses sitting on whatever lateral was already in the ground.
The floodplain claim belongs to one strip and no further. Tested address by address against the City’s Designated Floodplain polygon, 11 of 12 E Kent Avenue South points sit inside it and none of the SE Marine Drive or E 57th Avenue points do.
The City already proved the private side here was hooked up wrong
In the 1990s the City ran an inflow and infiltration reduction program on these exact streets and then reported back to Council on what it found. Inflow and infiltration is the City’s own term for stormwater getting into a sanitary sewer where it does not belong, through leaky manholes and lids and pipe joints and, its words again, incorrectly connected roof drains, drain tile and catch basins.
What it found in Fraserview was not theoretical. Fourteen homes were draining sanitary sewage into storm sewers that discharge to Vivian Creek. Eight of those fourteen also had storm connections running into the sanitary sewer, reversed both ways. Another thirty nine homes had storm connections into the sanitary sewer. That is fifty three houses on one slope with a drain line in the wrong pipe.
The consequence was measurable. The City estimated that before the program, eleven of thirteen monitored rainfalls would have pushed sanitary sewage out of the Elliot Street outfall. After the repairs, none did.
Then the sentence that still matters to anyone who owns here. The City named the remaining source as leaking old sanitary service connections, and said those get replaced with newer, more watertight ones when a property redevelops, at a rate of about 2% of the older homes a year. That is the City telling you, in writing, that the private connection is the weak link and that it only gets fixed one house at a time.
24/7 emergency dispatch
Drainage problem on Victoria Drive?
Ryan picks up. Live dispatch, and you get a real arrival window on the call. We camera the line before anybody quotes a number, and you watch the monitor with us.
Five things worth knowing on this hill
- Find out where your drains actually go. The City found fourteen houses here draining sewage into the storm system and thirty nine more with storm connections into the sanitary line. That was written up in the 1990s and the only way to know which one you own is to look.
- Vivian Creek is a real receiving water, not a metaphor. The City’s report names it as the water the storm sewers on these streets discharge to, and Vivian Drive on the eastern boundary carries the name. What goes into a storm drain here goes somewhere.
- The escarpment is the part that catches people out. Between E 61st Avenue and SE Marine Drive the ground drops around 50 metres over roughly 420 metres. A lot at the bottom of that is dealing with the hill’s water, not only its own.
- A rebuilt house is not a rebuilt connection. The curved Fraserview streets are 30.9% 1990s builds sitting on 1950s lots. The City’s own line is that leaking old service connections get replaced when a property redevelops, so if the rebuild did not touch the lateral, the lateral is still the original.
- Know which catch basin is yours. There are 2,660 City catch basins here. A plugged one on the street is a 3-1-1 call. The one in your driveway is ours.
What Vancouver customers say
Ryan was great! My landlord called him to fix my blocked kitchen sink. He showed up the same day (on a Sunday) and fixed the problem. He even cleaned the sink and dried up all the water that had leaked before he got there. And he was very careful coming in and out of the house so my cat wouldn’t get out. I’d definitely recommend him.
Ryan is INCREDIBLE. He has been responding to all of us (four houses and families!) affected by a sewage back up. This is all on Boxing Day and beyond, in terrible weather full of ice, cold and rain. He is so knowledgeable, and knew what was needed right away. Just the top of his field I am sure. As well as that, he is incredibly calm, respectful, kind and fair. I am truly amazed by this person's capacity and competence in combination with his noble, calm presence in the face of a real mess. Thank you Ryan, so very much!
I had very positive experience with Mamba Services, Ryan was amazing to work with and took care of my drain issues in no time. He arrived on time, was very professional and efficient in carrying out the work. What impressed me was how honest he was in recommending needed repair. He was very patient in explaining the different options. I will certainly call them for future projects.
Had an excellent experience. Ryan was fantastic, it was an after hours call late in the evening and he showed up exactly in the time frame he gave. Took care of the kitchen sink issue within minutes all systems were running like new. Pricing was extremely reasonable, Ryan was patient and explained everything to me while fixing my problem. I would highly recommend this company for any plumbing work.
Ryan was efficient, experienced, and knowledgeable. He was able to squeeze me into his schedule with short notice and wasted no time with my appointment. He arrived on site inspected the issue, and was quickly at work with resolving the problem. I am very pleased with his service and honesty. He provided recommendations that will help assist me in future occurrences.
Victoria Drive drainage and plumbing FAQ
Its inflow and infiltration report on Fraserview records fourteen homes draining sanitary sewage into storm sewers, eight of which also had storm connections into the sanitary sewer, plus thirty nine more homes with storm connections into the sanitary line. Fifty three houses on one slope with a line in the wrong pipe.
Because of what the City said was left. It named leaking old sanitary service connections as a remaining source and said they get replaced with newer, more watertight ones when a property redevelops, at about 2% of older homes a year. Most of the connections on this hill have never been touched.
Probably. Across Victoria-Fraserview 855 of 1,930 City main segments are combined, about 44%. Under the Victoria Drive strip specifically the combined share is 61%, and 128 of the 225 segments there are vitrified clay. We can tell you what is under your block before we come out.
You are responsible for maintaining the lines on your property up to where they meet the City’s connection. The City names open trenching, pipe bursting and pipe relining as the three renewal methods, and says to call a private plumbing contractor to scope the work and pull the permits.
In a separated system, the City’s own description is that rainwater is collected through catch basins, foundation drains and roof leaders and directed into a storm sewer. Roof and foundation drains improperly connected to the sanitary line are on its list of causes of extra flow. On this hill that is not a hypothetical, it is exactly what the City went looking for.
The pipe under the curved Fraserview streets is older than the houses on them. 169 of 218 main segments in there are clay, about 78%, and the biggest build decade on those streets is the 1990s at 30.9% on top of a 1950s original layer. So you can have a fairly new house sitting on an original service connection.
The City lists holes or cracks in pipes caused by damage, age or tree roots, and names root resistant pipe as one of its own remedies. Victoria-Fraserview carries 10,280 City trees, cherry and plum the largest genus at 2,187, and 1,370 of them have a trunk 50 cm or wider. Victoria Drive itself carries 280 of them.
The City lists holes or cracks in pipes caused by damage, age or tree roots, and names root resistant pipe as one of its own remedies. Victoria-Fraserview carries 10,280 City trees, cherry and plum the largest genus, and 1,370 of them have a trunk 50 cm or wider.
24/7 EMERGENCY DISPATCH
Water where it should not be?
Ryan picks up. Live dispatch, and you get a real arrival window on the call.