It’s Vancouver’s water playground but swimmers are something you rarely see in the polluted waters of False Creek.
“I would not dip my feet in this water. It’s bad,” one man told Global News.
That sentiment is shared by many along the vibrant Olympic Village waterfront, but if one city councillor’s bold idea gets the support of council, False Creek could soon be safe for swimming.
Vision Vancouver’s Andrea Reimer will present a motion on Tuesday in support of three goals for major natural waterways including the Burrard Inlet, False Creek, Lost Lagoon, the Fraser River and Trout Lake: a thriving working waterfront, safe and accessible waterfront recreation, and restoring aquatic and riparian ecology and traditional First Nations’ food sources.
WATCH: Housing crisis blamed for False Creek pollution
The first step of the Vancouver Waterfront Initiative, which is being seconded by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, would focus on “measures to make high-use waterways in Trout Lake and False Creek safely accessible by swimmers in advance of Summer 2018.”
“I think it’s really an opportunity to talk about what we could do to make sure our families could come and not just hang at the beach but actually jump in the water and learn how to swim,” Reimer said.
It may be a lofty goal given unusually high E. coli counts in August 2014 and April to July of 2015 sparked swimming bans in False Creek. Liveaboard boaters are often accused of dumping raw sewage in the waterway and the city’s antiquated combined sewer overflow system causes the water outflow below Science World to release untreated sewage during periods of heavy rain. Vancouver is however working to eliminate sewage overflows by 2050 through new separated sewer system construction.
WATCH: Sewage and E. Coli issues in False Creek as more people live in boats
In Copenhagen, Denmark, years of investment in the sewage system has led to a remarkable reduction in the discharge of wastewater during rainfall and people can swim in the harbour.
Reimer says the initiative would build on what cities like New York, Chicago and Copenhagen have done to revitalize their waterfronts by engaging all levels of government and the community to re-establish healthy waterways.
“New York City had to bring over 500 agencies from the federal, state, New York City as well as across the water in New Jersey together. Our effort won’t have to be quite as big but I think it’s an opportunity to work together.”
Details on how the filth in False Creek and Trout Lake would be cleaned up, and how much it would cost, are still murky.
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