A study conducted by the City of Pitt Meadows has found a recreation trail constructed as part of the Golden Ears Bridge project is not affecting drainage.
The $10,000 study was commissioned after residents who live in the 19800-block of Wildwood Crescent complained to the city about pooling water and soggy backyards following the trail’s construction.
The homeowners blamed the trail for altering drainage both below and above the surface.
City engineering services co-ordinator Ike De Boer said a study was the best way to investigate the residents’ concerns.
It found a five-metre strip behind residential lots in the 198000-block of Wildwood Crescent has flood plain deposits that have always drained poorly.
“It’s highly unlikely that the trail has caused the reported drainage problems on private property,” De Boer said in a report to council Tuesday.
He added that the parks department will continue to monitor culverts along the cycling and walking path and keep them free of debris.
Homeowners, though, are not placated by the study’s results.
“I’m not qualified to say what the cause is, but we are having a lot of water problems,” said Leslie Colquhoun, who has lived in her home for 32 years and never had pooling water on her property until the Wildwood trail was built.
“The backyard has turned into a bog,” she added. “The path has certainly exacerbated it. It’s like a big swimming pool.”
Colquhoun and other residents are working as a group to get their concerns addressed, but claim the city has yet to acknowledge there is a problem with drainage.
“Regardless of what the study says, the problem is still there,” said Colquhoun.
Council received the results of the study on Tuesday.