Nanaimo Midtown Water Supply Upgrades

Chris Downey, P.Eng.
Principal - Koers & Associates Engineering Ltd.

Chris is currently a Senior Review Engineer with Koers & Associates Engineering Ltd. He is a project manager with over 30 years of experience on a wide range of water, wastewater, storm drainage, and industrial projects. Some types of projects that he has been involved with are water and wastewater treatment facilities and pump stations, water reservoirs, large transmission mains, and sanitary foreshore interceptors and forcemains including flood mitigation and environment enhancement projects. Chris became a principal of Koers & Associates in 2010.

Mitchell Brook, P.Eng.
Project Manager - Koers & Associates Engineering Ltd.

Mitchell is a project manager with over 17 years of engineering experience, which includes the preparation of engineering design and studies, water computer modelling, preparation of contract documents and specifications, and construction management. He has worked on numerous infrastructure renewal projects in the Central Vancouver Island region and has extensive experience in computer water modelling.

Mike Squire, AsCT
Water Resources Manager – City of Nanaimo

Mike is currently the Manager for the City of Nanaimo’s Water Resources division and has been with the municipality for five years and counting. He has over 25 years of professional experience that includes being a project manager and manager of operations for the City of Parksville for 14 years, being a project manager for Emil Anderson Construction for two years, and as a civil engineering consultant in the Comox Valley for eight years.

Shawna Drinnan
Project Manager – City of Nanaimo

Shawna is a project manager for the Midtown Water Supply Project Ph1&2, currently works as a Water Resources Specialist within the City of Nanaimo’s Engineering & Public Works Department, and was previously an engineering services technologist. She has been with the municipality for almost 17 years working on various projects and programs. Prior to joining the City, Shawna was an engineering design technologist at Newcastle Engineering Ltd. in Nanaimo for 4.5 years. 

On April 3rd, 2020, the City of Nanaimo experienced a significant historical water supply failure of a 750 mm dia. Hyprescon primary water supply main on Bowen Road, which resulted in the loss of approximately 22 million litres of water from the City’s water storage system, draining three reservoirs and leaving the top floors of the Greater Nanaimo Regional Hospital without water.

The City reviewed the Hyprescon failure, determined additional failures are imminent and the water supply system was at risk. The City elected to accelerate the replacement of the entire Hyprescon pipe section to mitigate this risk and immediately started preparing water supply routing plans and budgets. Through the routing study, the City further discovered additional risks of the water supply network and determined two supply mains are essential for redundancy and building a resilient water supply system.

In January 2021, the City started the process to secure an engineering consultant for the preliminary design and in April 2022, the City completed its Negotiated RFP and awarded the supply and installation contract. The new 7 km primary water supply main and 3.5 km secondary supply main improvements will significantly enhance the security of City’s supply to 60% of the City water service area to projected year 2100 water demands. The chosen alignment of the new primary and secondary main had many design challenges, including Archaeological studies and various Environmental and Geotechnical Investigations. These challenges also required a significant collaboration with many stakeholders and rightsholders, which included local First Nations, utility companies, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Island Health, City Transportation and Parks, Recreational and Cultural staff and communication with local businesses and residents.

Topics to be discussed:

• Pipe diameter and Material Selection
• Connections, redundancy, and enhancements to the City water supply
• Alignment includes:
  • Nanaimo Parkway
  • Black Diamond residential area
  • Northfield Road or Boxwood Road
  • Boxwood Connector
  • Beban Park
  • Labieux Road
  • Crossing of the Millstone River and Northfield Marsh
  • Crossing of the Nanaimo Parkway