Cost for new North Shore sewage treatment plant climbs over $1B

The cost for the new North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant under construction has ballooned once again.

Metro Vancouver issued a short statement Friday, saying “the new North Shore waste water treatment plant is now scheduled to be completed in 2024 with a revised cost estimate … of $1.058 billion.”

When planning began on the project more than a decade ago, its estimated cost was $400 million.

By 2017, the estimated cost of the project had climbed to $700 million, with an estimated completion date of December 2020.

0:52 Concerns about raw sewage leaking into Fraser River

The facility, located at 1311 West 1st Street, will serve North and West Vancouver, along with the Squamish Nation.

It will replace the ageing 1961-built facility that currently operates beneath the Lions Gate Bridge, and which processes about 32 billion litres of watewater per year.

It means Metro Vancouver taxpayers could be hit with a big utility tax bill to pay for this especially those on the North Shore.