An improvement district since 1968, with unchlorinated water, asbestos-cement mains and a pump house the November 2022 storm put out of service.
Where Hopkins Landing sits, and the other places we attend
around Gibsons. Every name on the map is a link.
Neither the Town nor the regional district supplies the water here
Hopkins Landing is the steamship landing between Soames Point and Langdale, on the Howe Sound shore in Sunshine Coast Regional District Electoral Area F. It has a waterfront strip, a steep bank behind it and one shore road. Hopkins Beach is sandy and pebbly, and boats belonging to the houses on the bank lie moored about 50 feet off it, in the water whether or not their owners are home.
What sets Hopkins apart is who owns the pipes. The Hopkins Landing Waterworks District has been an improvement district since 1968. It is not the Town of Gibsons and it is not the regional district. It serves 170 properties from two production wells into two storage tanks holding 375,000 litres between them, through distribution mains that are primarily asbestos concrete, and the water is not chlorinated. The system has eleven fire hydrants, which is an unusual thing for an unincorporated community on this coast to own.
It is run by volunteers, and they say so plainly
The district is operated entirely by volunteers. Chair Ian Thompson has held the position since the system was established. Billing has been done for 63 years by a 92-year-old. Several of the operators are in their seventies. Thompson has said the operators "are aging out" and are "just managing to hang on." Elphinstone director Donna McMahon described the same system as "hanging together with duct tape and chewing gum." A conversion to regional district ownership was requested by the waterworks group in 2023. An assessment commissioned in 2024 found the system in good condition, with no major upgrades needed for five to ten years. The board voted on 23 January to move to the second step of the process and raised the exploration budget by $40,000 to $95,000 for 2025, with a report due in the autumn of that year.
The water has stopped three times that the record names
In the windstorm of November 2022 the pump house was damaged, the supply was interrupted and the regional district had to run a temporary emergency service for several weeks. In the windstorm of 4 and 5 November 2024 the Hopkins Landing water system lost power again. The same reporting describes frequent water service outages as a standing feature of the system.
A well system with an electric pump and no generator stops the moment the line comes down. For an empty house the water can go off without anyone noticing, and it can come back the same way, with air in the line and pressure returning to fittings nobody has looked at since autumn.
Nobody called the police from here for three months
In the fourth quarter of 2023, the only quarter the RCMP has ever published community by community for the rural Sunshine Coast, Hopkins Landing recorded zero calls for service. Soames Point recorded one and Langdale 32. Roberts Creek, for scale in the same table, recorded 125.
This is a quiet stretch of shore. It is also one where, for three months, nothing at all was reported, and a thing usually goes unreported because nobody was there to see it.
The government dock was closed and only partly rebuilt
The Hopkins Landing government dock was closed on safety grounds. The float was removed and stored, and when it was inspected in April 2025 it was found to be in significant disrepair and could not be reused. A request for proposals went out in October 2024, construction was meant to begin in January 2025 but was held up by permitting, and work started on 17 November 2025. The dock deck and wharf head reopened on 8 December 2025, with the rest expected to finish by the end of January 2026. Replacing the float is a separate contract still to be let.
Hopkins Landing falls within the West Howe Sound Fire Protection District and is answered from the main hall at 790 North Road. It is one of the few addresses out here where a pumper has hydrants to work from, and those hydrants belong to the neighbours, not to a municipality.
What a check at Hopkins Landing covers
The improvement district service connection, the meter pit and the shut-off valve at the lot line
Pressure at a tap after any power outage, and the hot-water tank checked for air locks and a dry element
Taps, under-sink fittings, toilet supply lines and the floor beneath each
Heat on and steady, or every line emptied and the main valve closed
Doors, windows, crawlspace hatches and outbuildings, with locks tried by hand
Boats and dinghies moored off the beach and the lines and ground tackle holding them
Bank stairs, railings and the path between the road and the house
Trees over the roof and over the wire after a southeast blow
A dated, photographed record covering every item, sent to you the same day
Insurers generally cover an empty house through the heating season only where a competent person inspects it at stated intervals, often no more than four consecutive days apart, or where the water is off and the pipes are drained. The requirement is not the same in every policy. Read the wording you are actually insured under.
What it costs
A scheduled check at Hopkins Landing is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
