Remains of an "orphaned" riverside dike/via Government of BC
A new report reviewed by Kamloops council suggests local taxpayers could be on the hook for well-over $100 million in costs connected to so-called “orphan dikes.”
Many of the “orphan dikes” in Kamloops were first established back in the early 1970’s to try to mitigate heavy flooding at that time, and can be found at various locations throughout the city and along the edge of the North and South Thompson Rivers.
Under recently-released provincial guidelines, City Utility Services Manager Greg Wightman says the BC government has decided it will not take ownership of them.
“They will not be becoming the diking authority for dikes across the province. It remains with the local governments,” warned Wightman. “Orphaned dikes, specifically, is one of the areas that they have said that they’re still trying to come up with a final strategy on that. But certainly the cost and liability is huge.”
Initial estimates from a report issued by the province in 2020 suggests the cost to Kamloops taxpayers could be at least $115 million dollars.
“The cost to bring the orphan dikes within the City of Kamloops up to current-day standard was 115 million dollars. That’s in 2020,” noted Wightman. “So you can assume, based on the way we’ve seen the construction industry go the past number of years, that number is quite a bit higher.”
Wightman says the level of cost leaves Kamloops in a difficult situation, from both a policy and taxpayer perspective.
“The City of Kamloops isn’t inspecting or maintaining these dikes, because we don’t own them,” said Wightman. “We’re kind of waiting to see what the province’s approach is going to be on this now that they’ve said that they are not going to take on all classification of dikes. Specifically with the orphaned dikes, we’re looking to see what that approach is going to be.”
The issue of the “orphaned dikes” is part of a broader downloading report which has been reviewed by Kamloops council, prompting plans to send off letters to political leaders and municipalities in BC to press for change.
