Where Victoria’s Water Comes From and Where the Sewage Goes

A regional water supply, delivered locally

The Regional Water Supply Service was established as a CRD service in 1997 and is administered by the Regional Water Supply Commission, made up of elected representatives from the member municipalities in the region. It provides drinking water to approximately 430,000 residents through municipal or CRD water distribution systems.

The service provides bulk water to the municipalities and to the CRD, and each of those then operates the distribution system that delivers water directly to customers. The City of Victoria operates the water distribution system for itself and for the Township of Esquimalt.

• Bulk water recipients: the District of Central Saanich, the District of North Saanich, the District of Oak Bay, the District of Saanich, the Town of Sidney, the City of Victoria and Township of Esquimalt, and the CRD Juan de Fuca Water System serving View Royal, Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke, parts of Highlands and Electoral Area East Sooke.
• The regional water supply also serves the Songhees First Nation, Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) First Nation, T’Souke (Sooke) First Nation and SC’IȺNEW (Beecher Bay) First Nation.
• The CRD directly manages operation and distribution, including water rates and billing, for the Juan de Fuca Water Distribution Service: View Royal, Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Highlands, Sooke, East Sooke and Songhees First Nation.

The source: three water supply areas

Greater Victoria’s drinking water comes from the Greater Victoria Water Supply Area, which consists of three water supply areas: Sooke, Goldstream and Leech. Together they total 20,560 hectares.

Sooke is the primary source, drawn from the Sooke Lake Reservoir. Goldstream is the secondary operational and emergency source. Leech is the region’s future water supply, being developed to meet a growing population and rising demand.

Sooke Lake Reservoir has been in active use since 1915 and is the primary source water reservoir, providing about 90 per cent of the total water storage in the supply system. It holds 160.32 million cubic metres, of which 92.7 million cubic metres are usable for water supply. Because storage is limited, the region depends on winter water held in the reservoir to supply its needs through the year, and the CRD publishes weekly summaries of storage capacity and water levels on its Water Watch page.

From source to tap

The CRD uses a multiple barrier approach: systems are designed to protect water at the source, treatment and distribution are carefully managed, and water quality is closely monitored. The CRD performs more than 58,000 water quality tests a year.

Because the system is a wholesale-then-distribute model, water reaching a tap in Victoria has passed through regional supply and then through a municipal distribution network. The City of Victoria flushes its water mains twice a year, in spring between January and June and in autumn between September and December, to remove sediment. Discoloured water during or after flushing is not a hazard to health, and running a cold tap in a bathtub or laundry tub clears it without clogging faucet screens.

Where the sewage goes

Wastewater treatment is a CRD responsibility. Before the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project, wastewater from the core area received only basic screening before being discharged through marine outfalls at Clover Point and Macaulay Point. The McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant began operating in 2020 and provides advanced primary, secondary and tertiary treatment. The CRD states that the system now removes approximately 95 per cent of suspended solids and organic pollutants before treated effluent is discharged to the ocean.

The three treatment stages explain what the plant actually does. Primary treatment is the physical separation of solids from wastewater. Secondary treatment is the biological process that removes dissolved and suspended organic compounds. Tertiary treatment is the physical process that reduces the solids remaining after secondary treatment.

Residual solids from the plant are piped to the Residuals Treatment Facility at Hartland Landfill, where they are treated and turned into Class A biosolids. The treated effluent is discharged through an outfall pipe roughly two kilometres from shore and buried 60 metres deep. The core area municipalities served are Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich, Oak Bay, View Royal, Langford and Colwood, along with the Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation.

Who to call about a water or sewer problem

The split in ownership determines who you call, and getting it wrong costs a day.

• A water leak, flooding, or a plugged sewer or storm drain at a City of Victoria address — the City’s 24-hour public works line, or the City’s service request form for non-emergencies.
• Wastewater treatment, regional water supply, water quality, water restrictions, or a wastewater overflow — the CRD.
• A billing question about water in the Juan de Fuca distribution area — the CRD, which handles rates and billing there.

Water restrictions and conservation

The CRD runs two parallel water conservation regimes. The Water Conservation Bylaw applies to customers of the Regional Water Supply System who receive drinking water from the Sooke Lake Reservoir across the Greater Victoria area, including residential, commercial, institutional and municipal properties. A separate Electoral Areas Water Conservation Bylaw applies to customers of CRD water systems operated in the electoral areas, including the Southern Gulf Islands, Port Renfrew and the Juan de Fuca electoral area.

Conservation bylaws are in effect from 1 May to 30 September each year unless the General Manager of Infrastructure and Water Services authorises otherwise. The reason is seasonal: in summer months water use in Greater Victoria increases by 44 per cent, mostly through non-essential outdoor uses such as lawn and garden watering, while the autumn and winter rains that replenish Sooke Lake Reservoir have to last the entire year.

Restrictions escalate through stages, and the higher the stage the more outdoor use is prohibited. At Stage 1, lawn watering is limited to one day a week within set morning and evening hours, and vehicles or boats may only be washed using a container or a hose with a shut-off valve. Stage 2 reduces lawn watering to one day every two weeks, requires commercial car washes for vehicles, and prohibits washing driveways and building surfaces and filling ornamental fountains. Stage 3 prohibits lawn watering, sprinkler watering, vehicle and boat washing, and filling pools, hot tubs and garden ponds. Stage 4 prohibits all outdoor water use and restricts indoor use to drinking, food preparation and sanitation. Hand watering with a container, a hose with a shut-off valve, or micro and drip irrigation is permitted any day and time in Stages 1 and 2.