The City of Vancouver has launched a contest encouraging residents to “adopt” a catch basin.
The new Adopt a Catch Basin program invites residents to pick a catch basin near their home or business, and keep it free of leaves, debris, and litter to help reduce flooding in Vancouver neighbourhoods.
The online interface maps out over 45,000 adoptable catch basins across the City that residents can go online to adopt and name.
It was built on an open source data platform and will be returned to open source for use by other cities.
“Our early test-phase adopters have demonstrated their own creativity with catch basin names like Catcher in the Rain and Grate Dreams of Rhythm and Dancing,” says Jerry Dobrovolny, General Manager of Engineering Services.
“One early adopter claimed over 40 catch basins, when we called to confirm it was on purpose, he verified that he adopted every one on his block. Caring for a catch basin may only take a little time, but residents help goes a long way to help prevent flooding in our city and keep our streets safe and accessible for everyone.”
City crews work hard to help keep streets safe from flooding through the fall leaf collection program, street sweeping, and street cleaning.
Last modified: November 29, 2017
