Projects

These are some of our recent and past projects.
    • The Bee Creek watershed is a small coastal watershed, about 435 hectares in size.  It is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the City of Colwood, which is approximately 10 km west of Victoria.  Bee Creek itself is just over 1 km long.  Most of its flow is derived from a groundwater seepage area at the base of a small escarpment.  The goal was to restore this salmon-bearing habitat to its original state, including vegetation and a series of wetlands and ponds. Increasing the diversity and structure of the sites disturbed wetlands will provide enhanced ecological functions including nesting habitat, water quality improvements, and invertebrate food sources for migrating birds.  Inland wetlands provide winter storm shelter and complementary fresh water foraging opportunities for birds.  These forested wetlands reduce storm pulses into the lagoon and promote stronger base flows.

      This project was a collaboration between Pacific Centre and its many volunteers, numerous funding agencies and community sponsors. Aqua-Tex provided the original concept and design and worked collaboratively with other professionals, particularly PT DeGreeff Landscape Planning and Joseph Brown Contracting in the final design and construction. 

    • Blenkinsop Creek is the major tributary to Swan Lake, an urban lake surrounded by a nature sanctuary in the middle of the Municipality of Saanich. Blenkinsop Creek has been severely channelized by agriculture and urban development throughout the watershed and is the receiving water for urban storm drainage.  This first phase of this project restored approximately 700m of Upper Blenkinsop Creek by relocating and restructuring the channel, replanting native riparian vegetation and allowing the creek to access its natural floodplain. This project rejoined two fields that were previously divided by a ditch. This allowed Galey Bros. Farms to utilize a single irrigation system (instead of two separate systems) and to use one access road instead of two. This increased the area of land under cultivation by approximately 13%. By moving the creek alongside Lochside trail, were we able to take advantage of an existing vegetation buffer and create viewpoints from the trail. See the project photo gallery for photos of its construction and growth.
    • Aqua-Tex developed the water quality sampling program for the City of Cranbrook's drinking water supply in 1994. This was followed by training of City staff and the installation of continuous monitoring equipment in 1996 and a meteorological station and snow pillow in 1999. Aqua-Tex worked with the City and the forest licensee, Galloway Lumber, to assess and manage the health of the watersheds from 1994 to 2009, including the formation of a Watershed Advisory Committee and annual watershed tours for staff and Council. This program has saved the City millions of dollars in deferred infrastructure costs by demonstrating very good water quality and avoiding the construction and operating costs of a filtration plant.
      • Performance Targets for an Integrated Design Campus Plan (with Stone Environmental Inc, Farallon Consultants Ltd., Cobalt Engineering) 
      • Integrated Sustainability Guidelines for the West Valley Campus (with Stone Environmental Inc, Farallon Consultants Ltd., Cobalt Engineering, Terence Williams Architect).

      Visit the College of the Desert website.

    • A sustainable community demonstrates innovation and effectiveness in ecological, social/community, and financial planning.  One objective of this development will be to demonstrate to the City, other levels of government, and the community that sites can be developed in a sustainable manner to benefit communities environmentally, socially and financially.

      One of many unique features of Dockside Green is not its innovative stormwater management, but rather its fully integrated water management that treats water as a valuable resource in all its forms. Rainwater, stormwater, greywater and blackwater will all be reused on site in an attempt to mimic the natural hydrologic cycle as far as possible, given current technology and regulations.
      As one of the core members of the original concept team, our role in this project is to: provide concepts and advice on integrated water management; provide design guidance on greenway construction and stormwater management; consult on shoreline restoration; and conduct Erosion and Sedimentation Control auditing.  This project is on going.

    • In 2002, we were asked to review the proper functioning condition of Hobbs Creek which flows through Mystic Vale. Our evaluation of the creek was that the majority of the system was Non-Functional. The watershed was highly valued by UVic and the community as both wildlife habitat and for its recreational opportunities. Since that time we have worked with UVic to conduct emergency remediation measures to address the most urgent erosion and stream bank degradation issues within the Mystic Vale portion of the watershed. We designed a long-term restoration plan to arrest the erosion and slowly rebuild the stream and restore the ecology of Mystic Vale.
    • In 2003, we were retained by Island View Development Corp. to design and build stormwater detention ponds/wetlands to serve a new mixed development of single family homes, townhomes and a small commercial centre immediately opposite Olympic View Golf Course on Latoria Road. As part of this work, we consolidated three entrances into one and restored a portion of Latoria Creek.  The development also includes trails that link the green and open spaces in the subdivision with the neighbouring school, forest and Latoria Creek. They provide a convenient and pleasant access route through the community and provide an opportunity to enjoy the natural environment.
    • Aqua-Tex worked closely with the Province of BC to advise on the 2008 provincial water policy "Living Water Smart". This plan formed the basis for many of the new policies implemented in the recently enacted Water Sustainability Act.
    • Maber Flats Drainage Detention Design

      District of Central Saanich
      Maber Flats, in the District of Central Saanich, is the site of an historic wetland that has been drained and is used for agricuture. Aqua-Tex led a design team of professionals to design an agriculture drainage facility on the District's 11 ha portion of the site to support agriculture by reducing the magnitude and duration of flooding on surrounding lands, while providing wetland habitat during the driest parts of the year.
    • Millstream Meadows- Review of Ecological Site Features

      CRD Parks and Environment Services (2015)

      The assessment created a baseline for development planning and rezoning activities and as a means to meet the requirements of the Riparian Area Regulation (RAR). The assessment and related report  included desktop and field site assessment components including the following:

      • Review of mapping databases including but not limited to Data BC, CRD Community Atlas, CDC iMap to identify ecological features that were present on the subject property;
      • Site visit to identify ecological site features (e.g., riparian-wetland corridors, streams, isolated wet areas, rocky knolls, forested areas, protected species, roads, etc.);
      • Documentation required by the District of Highlands for rezoning and determining setbacks;
      • Identification of off-site linkages with adjacent properties;
      • Ground-truthed presence/absence of mapped ecological features;
      • Provided photographic evidence and scaled figures/drawings of site and off-site notable features of concern for future development;
      A report including copies of all supporting data was provided to CRD on time and under budget.
    • Southeast False Creek (SEFC) is a model sustainable community built on the last remaining large tract of undeveloped waterfront land near downtown Vancouver.

      Historically, the Southeast False Creek site was used for industrial and commercial purposes. While maintaining heritage ties to the past, SEFC was planned as a model sustainable development based on environmental, social and economic principles where people  live, work, play, and learn. SEFC is a mixed-use community, with a focus on residential housing for families. This complete community ensures goods and services within walking distance and housing that is linked by transit and in proximity to local jobs.
      Our team contributed to the infrastructure and servicing design in 2005/06 mainly in the areas of stormwater management, shoreline restoration and ecology. In 2006/07 we were part of the Millennium/Merrick Architecture team, where our role was advising on rainwater capture and reuse, stormwater management and ecology. This project was completed in the summer of 2009 and is only the second project in the world to receive a LEED-ND (neighbourhood development) Platinum rating.

      2016 update: We are pleased to say that the beavers approve!

      http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/01/beavers-vancouver-olympic-village/
       

    • Aqua-Tex is proud to have been part of the design team for British Pacific Properties' newest project,  the Rodgers Creek Neighbourhood.  An Area Development Plan was drafted in close consultation with the District of West Vancouver and recently approved. It is based on watershed analysis of a large geographic area to determine appropriate land use, including park sites and open space in new subdivisions.  This Plan provided comprehensive analysis of traffic patterns, environmental protection, land use and density within the framework set by the District Official Community Plan (OCP) policy. Aqua-Tex provided input on stream ecology and riparian management as well as stormwater management and green development principles.
    • Rogers Farm is a 72-house, phased development on Christmas Hill. The developer was initially asked to provide on-site stormwater detention reservoirs which, given the geology of the site, would have required blasting and excavation of bedrock on an area of land equivalent to three full-sized lots. The stormwater from these detention ponds would have been conveyed by storm drains directly into a tributary of Gabo Creek. An overflow dry detention pond constructed in the early 1990's was determined to be non-functional. The cost of the on-site treatment was very expensive and the developer sought a cost-effective ecological alternative. A wetland at the base of Christmas Hill had previously been used as a fill dump and was no longer adding functionality to Gabo Creek. As part of the Rogers Farm subdivision construction, this wetland was restored and expanded. The water supply to support the wetland was obtained from the stormwater originating from the Rogers Farm subdivision. The overall cost of stormwater management program was estimated to be approximately one quarter of traditional on-site detention.
    • This site is an urban in-fill development on former agricultural land. This site was within the 200 year floodplain for Swan Creek and two developers had approached the municipality with traditional engineered solutions to stormwater management and flood control; however, this approach was not supported by the community. An innovative approach to stormwater management that would alleviate liability concerns for flooding and provide protection for Swan Creek was required.

      By choosing to develop the property in conjunction with the restoration and stormwater treatment, the developer was able to obtain approvals and start construction in a very short period of time (63 days for all approvals). The property was subdivided to provide 31 single family homes, with 17% of the property dedicated to Saanich as parkland. This project has won several environmental awards.

    • In 2003, we were retained to develop the stormwater management and low impact development concepts for the Valleyview subdivsion in the Langford. Valleyview incorporates many different strategies to maintain the water balance of the site and protect both Bilston Creek and terrestrial habitat. For example, houses are situated on naturally impervious, rocky areas so the net increase in imperviousness from rooftops is minimized.  This allowed for natural drainage patterns to be maintained and enhanced thus maintaining habitat and minimizing the amount of hard piping.  A system of ponds and swales carry runoff on the surface to permit infiltration back in to the groundwater and natural filtration of sediments before the water reaches Bilston Creek. 
    • The former Glendale Lodge Hospital was redeveloped into the Vancouver Island Technology Park (VITP) as a space for high-technology research and development businesses. Aqua-Tex designed the stormwater management plan to deal with immediate redevelopment on the site as well as future expansion. Stormwater ponds and channels were created on two sides of the property in order to provide maximum detention and infiltration, and capture runoff from adjacent parking areas at Camosun College and Layritz Park. Walking trails were placed outside the floodplain and their location was determined through collaboration with the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific and Saanich Parks.

      The cost savings generated by using an ecological approach to stormwater management instead of a traditional engineered approach have been documented at $500,000.

Projects
  • We design and build projects that are efficient, effective and affordable both for the owner and for the community. Smart development can provide both economic and ecological benefits and can enhance the communities in which we live and work. Our solid understanding of the science of freshwater ecology ensures that our projects go beyond looking green, and function properly in both the short and long-term. We believe in an integrated team approach to sustainable planning and design.
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    - Cori L. Barraclough
    Freshwater Ecologist at Aqua-Tex