On the front lines of an effort to get British Columbians to drink less bottled water is the Seymour Capilano Filtration Plant.

With the new $600-million facility that has been seven years in the making, tap water will be cleaner than it ever has before.

"This is the largest UV disinfection plant in the world," said the plant's Mark Ferguson.

The plant will pre-treat, filter and distribute about 1.8 billion litres of water a day. Giant filter tanks will slow the flow and allow 48 ultraviolet lights lining the inside to disinfect the stream.

The construction project will cost more than all of the 2010 venues, and will be ready by 2009.

The complex design has involved blasting with dynamite and then tunnelling through bedrock to the Capilano watershed.

Contractors considered that too dangerous back in January, and that led to a $22-million lawsuit launched against the GVRD last spring.

Construction on the underground tunnels is stalled but officials insist the water that would have been tunnelled from the Capilano Reservoir isn't necessary, for now.

"We can go with just the Seymour for now and we can also have the Coquitlam watershed as well," said Tim Stevenson, a Metro Vancouver director.

It's getting support from people who want to change the way Vancouverites drink water.

"We've got to rethink the single use containers, that's what we have to rethink. We've got to rethink how we're going to live our life," said GVRD Waste Management Committee Chair Marvin Hunt.