Thursday, February 18, 2016

Sooke Flowline

The Sooke Flowline is an abandoned 44-kilometre concrete pipe that travels through the Sooke Hills from Sooke Lake to the Humpback Reservoir. From this reservoir, a buried, riveted steel pressure main transported water to Victoria. The flowline was vital to City of Victoria growth as it provided a reliable water supply.


The engineering firm, Sanderson and Porter, engineered the flowline with 42-inch pipe molds. The factory was very efficient and used steam to accelerate the curing of the concrete segments. In one 8-hour shift, 150-160 segments were produced. The segments were winched up the hill 450 feet above the construction site. Three small locomotives were used to bring segments to both ends via a temporary 2 ft gauge railway and the pipe was constructed from the ends to the midpoint.


Between 1911-1915, this major engineering project employed over 400 workers and housed their families in rural Sooke. During the flowline's operation, caretakers lived along the route in small cabins; many of which are still there today. They rode recumbent tricycles on the pipe with tilted rear wheels to stay on top. During their routes they were on the lookout for cracks in the pipe, leaky joints and trespassers.


Every 600 metres (660 yards) there are access hatches. These were meant for maintenance from the inside by workers. A person would lie prone on a cart and scrape moss off the inside of the pipe and clear sediments, rocks and dead fish which inevitably backed up in places. Placed on top of these hatches were wire mesh domes, which reduced pressure build up and helped aerate the water.


Between 1994 and 2007, this main was replaced since it was long past its useful life.


Today, you can access the pipe at the following locations:

• Mt. Wells Regional Park - the pipe terminus is at the Humpback Reservoir (Mt. Wells Parking lot) and it twins Humpback Road to the Sooke Highway.
• 48°24.836N 123°35.138W - Parking is located by some mailboxes 300 metres (330 yards) south of indicated location.
• Glinz Lake Road - drive up the road and park just before the Camp Thunderbird main gate. The pipe crosses the road approximately 50 metres (55 yards) south of the gate.
• Harbourview Road - there is a CRD parking lot at the end. Continue walking up the road for 15 minutes where you will see the pipe cross.
• Sooke Potholes - the pipe runs north-south to the east of the Sooke River.