Water Street is providing preliminary design, detailed design and construction services for the civil and mechanical design of the proposed water transmission system upgrades for the Houpsitas Village Infrastructure Renewal (HVIR) project. Detailed design for this project was completed in March of 2022 and the project will be constructed later this year.

Houpsitas Village is located in Kyuquot, BC, roughly 250 km north-west of Campbell River, accessible only by water or air. The Houpsitas Village Water System, which was constructed in 1998 supplies water to Houpsitas Village and Walters Island.

A condition assessment completed by Wedler Engineering in 2018 identified significant water losses in the system (up to 60 m³/day) and numerous component failures; most notably the condition of the reservoirs. Water Street’s scope of work includes the design of a well site, a storage reservoir, chlorination system, and a reservoir control building and PRV station. Also included was extending the existing 5 km transmission main to the new reservoir site.

This work was carried out for Wedler Engineering in support of a project with the Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations.

The project faced numerous challenges, including the remote site location, which was only accessible by boat or air. This created challenges and costs related to delivery of equipment and materials as well as availability of suppliers, contractors, and other workers. The proposed reservoir site was also located in mountainous terrain, which caused complexities around selection of specific building dimensions, orientation, and location to minimize required earthwork.