The Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) has filed suit against local design engineer firm SSBV Consultants Inc. over what it claims are design defects at a North Vancouver water filtration plant.
A statement of claim filed May 8 in BC Supreme Court alleges that the defendant breached a design contract with regards to the design of an outlet flume at the plant. The outlet flume is a piece of equipment that water passes through after passing through the plant's filters and UV disinfection units and prior to entering pipes to travel to clearwells.
The suit claims that the outlet flume was defective, with its concrete walls "not designed to properly withstand reasonably anticipated loads that could be imposed during normal operation and maintenance of the filtration plant."
"As a result of the defect in design," the suit contends, "it was necessary for the GVWD to remove portions of the walls and rebuild the outlet flume walls using a different design."
The suit claims that the defect caused the GVWD to incur further costs to investigate and test the outlet flume, and to remediate and rebuild the outlet flume. It further alleges that the plaintiff incurred additional costs related to the overall delay to plant construction caused by having to remove and rebuild the outlet flume.
The GVWD is seeking damages for breach of contract and negligence, as well as special damages.
None of these allegations has been proven in court.
As of press deadline, no response to the civil claim had been filed.
