page_title: Timeline of the Greater Victoria Water System
section_title: Sooke Lake and Humpback Reservoir (1915–1970)
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the Greater Victoria Water System / Sooke Lake and Humpback Reservoir (1915–1970)
caption_attribution_description: English: Steel Pressure Pipeline, 1915
context_page_description: The water supply system for Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, now operated by the Capital Regional District, served in 2010 over 330,000 people with clean drinking water from a catchment area of 11,025 hectares centered on its main reservoir at Sooke Lake. The CRD’s ownership and complete control of its entire watershed assures its customers of a supply that is secure in both quantity and quality. The main reservoir and its subsidiary reservoirs are estimated to contain 93 billion litres of water, enough to meet the needs of its customers for two years without any rainfall. The history of this remarkable system is sketched below.
context_section_description: It was understood already in 1905 that the supply from Elk and Beaver Lakes would not be adequate in the long term. The city brought in a consulting engineer from San Francisco, Arthur L. Adams, to study the problem and recommend solutions. He recommended that the city continue to use the then existing source but with extensive improvements, and if possible to acquire the Esquimalt Water Works Company which was then drawing water from Thetis Lake but also held the rights to the Goldstream Lakes. Adams considered Sooke Lake as a possible source, but members of city council thought it too expensive. Over the next three years, several attempts to claim Goldstream water and/or expropriate or purchase the Esquimalt Water Works failed. Adams was called upon for advice again in 1907. This time he put greater emphasis on Sooke Lake. Early in the following year, the council put the question of Sooke Lake to the ratepayers in a referendum. Going to Sooke Lake was supported by a two-thirds majority of those voting. It was, however, not until November 1910 that council finally passed the bylaw authorizing the development of Sooke Lake as a source of water supply. 
  The engineering of the project was contracted to the firm of Sanderson & Porter, with offices in New York and San Francisco. The responsible design engineer was Wynn Meredith of San Francisco, who had overseen several significant recent engineering projects in British Columbia. Initially, the resident engineer was Harry Hartwell, but he was replaced in July 1912 by Boyd Ehle from Sanderson & Porter's New York Office. The firm established an office in Victoria in the Drake Block at 1414 Douglas St.
  Aside from acquiring ownership of the lake and surrounding watershed, Meredith’s plan involved constructing a flowline of 27.5 miles (44.3 km) from a dam at Sooke Lake to a holding reservoir to be constructed at the Humpback Road near Goldstream. From there a pipeline would run about 10.5 miles (16.9 km) through the Helmcken Fields and along Burnside Road to a distribution point in the city at Fountain Square.
  The initial contract for the construction work was awarded to Solomon Cameron and Parker Clarke of the Westholme Lumber Co. in December, 1911. The work began in January, 1912. Problems with the Westholme company led to two significant moves in 1912. First, Charles Henry Rust, who had been the City Engineer in Toronto and had a reputation for getting things done, was brought in as City of Victoria Engineer and was soon appointed to the additional position of Water Commissioner, replacing J. L. Raymur who had held that position in addition to serving as City Comptroller, a position that he retained. Second, the City cancelled Westholme’s contract in April 1913, and took over the project as a public work.
  The watershed was secured through purchase by the City of the 30 square miles (78 km²) surrounding Sooke Lake. The consulting engineer recommended that the neighboring Leech River watershed also be acquired and connected to Sooke Lake by a 5-mile (8 km) conduit, but this was not undertaken at the time. Sufficient land was acquired around the planned reservoir at Humpback, and a 100 ft (30.5 m) right-of-way for the 27.5-mile (44.3 km) flowline from Sooke Lake to Humpback, as well as the necessary right-of-way for the water main to the city, were added to the package.
  The concrete dam at Sooke Lake raised the water level 12 ft (3.7 m), expanding the surface area from 978 to 1,180 acres (396 to 478 hectares) and creating an available storage capacity of 3.355 billion imperial gallons (15,240,000 m3). The balancing reservoir at Humpback was created by building a concrete dam to a height of 31 feet (9.4 m), closing off a sloping valley that would fill with the water piped down from Sooke Lake. The resulting reservoir would cover 13.57 hectares (33.5 acres) and hold up to 136 million imperial gallons (612,000 m3).
  The greatest engineering challenge was to build the flow line of concrete pipe from Sooke Lake to Humpback. A grade was established that would drop 5 feet (1.52 m) per 1 
caption: Steel pressure pipeline, 1915
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