---
title: "Vancouver Liberals pledge to finish sewer separation by 2040, 30 years ahead of current projection"
description: "The Vancouver Liberals say they will fund an accelerated sewer separation project to keep sewage out of False Creek and Vancouver's beaches, targeting completion by 2040 instead of 2070."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/news/vancouver-liberals-false-creek-sewage-october-8"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:01:08.823Z"
---

The Vancouver Liberals published a platform commitment on October 8 saying the party would fund Vancouver's sewer separation project to reach completion by 2040, three decades ahead of where current funding puts it.

The party's press release says Vancouver's drainage system does not separate rainwater from sewage. During heavy rainfall, the combined water flows into False Creek, raising E. coli levels and forcing beach closures. The party says this caused beach closures at the mouth of False Creek during FIFA 2026 this year.

"Throughout this year's FIFA celebrations, our residents and visitors weren't able to use Vancouver's beaches at the mouth of False Creek," the press release quotes Kareem Allam as saying. "Unsafe E. coli levels meant that the waters had to be closed, following heavy rainfall prior to the celebrations."

Those are Allam's own words, published by the party. The site has not independently confirmed the dates or extent of the closures.

## What the party says the timeline is

The Vancouver Liberals put the City of Vancouver's official completion target at 2050. The party says that at current funding levels, the actual date of completion is projected to reach 2070, which is 20 years beyond that target.

The party says it would provide additional funding to bring completion forward to 2040, which it describes as 30 years sooner than the 2070 projection. Those figures come from the party's own press release and have not been independently verified.

## What else the party said about beaches

The press release also references eliminating parking fees at beaches as a separate measure the party would take to improve access. That is an additional platform commitment stated in the same document and attributed to the Vancouver Liberals.

No response from other parties or from the City of Vancouver on this specific timeline appears in the source. The party made no reference to a cost estimate for the accelerated work.

## What a voter can do

Advance voting is open at locations across Vancouver until October 15. Election day is October 17, 2026. You can check voting locations at [/where-to-vote](/where-to-vote) and see where the Vancouver Liberals and [Kareem Allam](/candidates/kareem-allam) stand on other issues at [/parties/vancouver-liberals](/parties/vancouver-liberals).

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