[1] They provide tap water to a land area covering more than 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi), serving a total of 21 member municipalities, one electoral district, and one treaty First Nation.

[4] Two additional off-catchment areas (Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve and Or Creek watershed) under control of Metro Vancouver contribute to the water supply.

[3] The watersheds have a long history of controversies surrounding logging, highway development, and salmon run conservation.

An intake pipe was constructed 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) upstream of the mouth of the river, and a pipeline carried this water across the First Narrows of Burrard Inlet and into the City of Vancouver.

government obtained a 999-year lease to designate the Capilano and the Seymour as a watershed reserve for water supply purposes in 1905 and 1906, respectively.

Lands purchased prior to the reserve agreement remained under private ownership, and established mining and timber claims were considered valid and were still practiced after 1905 and 1906.

It was in the form of a wooden fir stave pipe and was situated 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) from the mouth of the river, and at an elevation of 140 metres (460 ft).

In 1916, residents were notified of the railway complex being planned for logging operations, and by 1918 clear cutting in the Capilano watershed had begun.

Residents and politicians in Vancouver became very concerned that the quality of the future water supply was at risk from logging activities.

Pattullo granted an additional 170 acres of land above the city's water intake to Capilano Timber Company.

This action was met with backlash from citizens and elected officials and was eventually cancelled by British Columbia Premier John Oliver.

In 1924, University of British Columbia professor and botanist John Davidson addressed the Vancouver Natural History Society to express concern for effects of clear-cut logging on water supply quality in the Capilano watershed.

Pattullo responded with an article in the newspaper disagreeing with Davidson, and the debate continued in a very public and intense fashion.

On February 3, 1926, the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) was officially formed with Ernest Cleveland as its Commissioner.

In 1927, the GVWD obtained a 999-year lease from the provincial government for all Crown land and timber in the Capilano and Seymour watersheds.

By the end of the project, 487 acres were cleared and a five-mile access road was built alongside the eastern portion of the Seymour Reservoir.

[10] In 1960, the GVWD announced plans to continue building a road nine miles further north to the Loch Lomond reservoir in the Seymour watershed.

In 1967, the 1927 GVWD lease agreement (known as the Amending Indenture) with the provincial government was changed to now allow for building of roads and logging of old-growth forests in all three watersheds.

[3] The GVWD continued to insist that logging operations were enhancing and improving water quality despite contrary findings of studies in the areas of soil and forest hydrology.

Public advocacy groups including the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, the Burke Mountain Naturalists, the Friends of the Watersheds, and the BC Tap Water Alliance made strong cases for halting logging activities.

The idea of a public motor highway passing through the Capilano watershed to connect North Vancouver to Squamish and Garibaldi park was first suggested by J.W.

The dam, used for the purposes of water supply and power generation, suspended salmon spawning in the upper part of the Coquitlam River.

[15] Areas in tributaries that the salmon used for spawning were destroyed when the dam raised the lake's water level by 5 feet.

Over the past century, the other salmon populations (coho, chum, and steelhead) also suffered but they managed to persevere, even showing some signs of improvement in later years.

Multiple plans, projects and reports have been put into place over the past two decades to understand and to increase salmon populations in the Coquitlam Watershed.

[16] Metro Vancouver's heavy rainfall creates the potential for erosion and landslides in the stream banks of the watersheds.

[17] Not only does this cause turbidity in Vancouver's drinking water, but it also poses a threat for salmon habitats, terrestrial ecosystems, and human-made infrastructure.

Public access to all watersheds is restricted in order to mitigate risks of water supply contamination from human disturbances, such as pollution and erosion.