B.C. Hydro is asking swimmers, kayakers, and boaters to avoid part of the Gorge Waterway next week as crews conduct survey work related to an underground cable replacement.
Starting Monday, crews are conducting a marine and land survey within the Gorge Waterway, Cecilia Cove Park, Banfield Park, and the Galloping Goose trail corridor.
The Banfield Park Dock will remain open, but B.C. Hydro is asking for people to stay away from the waters directly west of the Selkirk Trestle on Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 24 to 27 for boating logistics and underwater safety reasons.
The power company is deploying equipment into the Gorge with a boat that will be able acquire high-resolution acoustic images 30 metres down into sediment and rock.
In August 2023, an underground cable connecting two power substations in Victoria and Esquimalt that was installed in 1980 sprung a leak and spilled about 255 litres of coolant oil into a park near the Selkirk Trestle, with some of that oil making its way into the water.
In the process of repairing the leak, crews discovered widespread corrosion in the 2.7-kilometre-long transmission cable’s outer sheath, prompting B.C. Hydro to start an emergency cable replacement process.
Starting in November, B.C. Hydro will be deploying a barge in the Gorge for investigative geotechnical drilling for about a month.
The survey will help determine the final path of the roughly 400-metre underwater section of the new cable.
Construction on the new cable could start as soon as December 2025.
Designs call for a polyethylene plastic insulation material instead of mineral oil and the cable is expected to have more than double the capacity of the existing transmission cable.
B.C. Hydro said it expects the cable replacement to be completed and in service by the end of 2026.
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