Surrey investing in dyke upgrades to protect against flood and storm events

The City of Surrey is in the first phase of upgrading the dyke network to protect against flooding from increasingly more common high magnitude storm events. As a next step in enhancing the network, the City will be applying for $10 million in funding to upgrade the Nicomekl River Dyke.

"It is important that the city expand and enhance our dyke network to protect against the increasing effects of rising sea levels and storm events," said Mayor Doug McCallum. "Upgrading and maintaining Surrey’s dykes are important because it provides effective protection against flooding from increasingly more common high magnitude storm events as was experienced in November of 2021. For these reasons, the City is applying for grant funding to significantly upgrade our dyke network."

During Monday’s Regular Council Meeting, Surrey Council endorsed an application for grant funding for the Nicomekl River Dyke Upgrade Project, from 168 Street to 188 Street for a total of $10 million through B.C.’s Green Adaptation, Resilience & Disaster Mitigation Program (ARDM) as part of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The City’s Drainage utility has sufficient funding in its capital project reserve for the City’s financial portion (27%) of the project’s eligible costs.

Implementing the upgrades to the Nicomekl Dyke through the ARDM fund supports the objectives of the City’s Sustainability Charter 2.0. The City anticipates changing weather patterns and sea level rise as a result of climate change, and implements appropriate infrastructure, land use planning and emergency response solutions that will be resilient over the long term. The community’s critical infrastructure and systems are designed to withstand climate change impacts and natural events and disasters, and include emergency response and reconstruction plans.

Surrey has approximately 100 kilometres of dykes throughout the city.