INNOVATION May-June 2018

DEBRIS FLOOD MITIGATION FOR A CREEK Many steep North Shore creeks are subject to debris floods. To prevent boulders and large woody debris from clogging downstream culverts and causing overland flooding, the District of North Vancouver retained lead engineers Kerr Wood Leidal Associates to design a debris basin on Thames Creek. Execution of the team’s design involved slope- cutting to achieve a 900-cubic-metre basin volume, lowering and reconstructing the existing creek channel, and installing a 12-metre-wide concrete and steel debris barrier. Because the basin is in a forested park, every effort was made to retain existing trees. In addition, a structural soil mix was placed over top of heavy riprap so that vegetation and small shrubs could re-establish on basin slopes. The resulting infrastructure will, over time, blend in with the natural environment. Kerr Wood Leidal: Andrew Kolper, P.Eng., Shayna Scott, EIT. Mott MacDonald: Jamie McIntyre, P.Eng. Thurber: Ben Singleton-Polster, P.Eng., Erik Stevenson, P.Eng. HATCHERYWATER SUPPLY ENERGY RECOVERY Fisheries and Oceans Canada operates the Puntledge River Hatchery near Courtenay to support summer and fall runs of Chinook Salmon as well as Pink, Coho, and Chum. Water Street Engineering developed a design under BC Hydro’s net revenue metering program to generate 700 MWh/year fully offsetting the hatchery’s electrical demands. The hatchery has a high-pressure water supply from Comox Lake with flows up to 600 litres per second. The energy recovery project replaced the existing water supply control systemwith a 100 kilowatt pump-as-turbine and parallel control valves. The project reused the existing control building, including staging of the renovation to maintain hatchery flows while revamping piping, instrumentation, and controls. Water Street Engineering (lead): Neal Whiteside, P.Eng., Allan Bronsro, P.Eng. Struthers Tech (electrical and controls): Riley Devlin, P.Eng. Gygax Engineering Associates (structural): Adrian Gygax, P.Eng. PBX Engineering (contract management). Fisheries andOceans Canada (project management): TimRenaud, KyleWood AIRPORT LED LIGHTING UPGRADE Omni Engineering Inc., along with Musco Sports Lighting, LLC, designed an upgrade to the Apron 6 lighting at Vancouver International Airport. The upgrade increased lighting levels around all of the aircraft gates by over 35 lux (a 236 percent increase) while reducing the lighting’s power consumption by 59 percent. The system also incorporated adaptive controls and communications that will dim the lighting when gates are inactive. The controller receives regular gate schedule data from the airport central information system in order to control light levels. Owner : YVR—Vancouver Airport Authority. Omni Engineering: Tony Seddon, P.Eng., Faraz Zaidi, P.Eng., Sonny Bharaj, EIT

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