{"id":2375,"date":"2012-02-22T15:07:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T23:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=2375"},"modified":"2012-02-23T14:59:46","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T22:59:46","slug":"going-down-the-sewer-how-the-crd-plans-to-forge-ahead-with-criticized-treatment-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2012\/02\/22\/going-down-the-sewer-how-the-crd-plans-to-forge-ahead-with-criticized-treatment-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Going down the sewer: How the CRD plans to forge ahead with criticized treatment plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/strong>he apparent simplicity of flushing a toilet has become a highly complex scenario in the Capital Regional District (CRD).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CRD has spent millions of dollars, and several years, deciding how to deal with its sewage. Since ordered by the provincial government to start treating sewage in 2006, the CRD and others have undertaken numerous studies by engineers and scientists, and numerous opinions have been formed by politicians and the public.<\/p>\n

The CRD is made up of 13 municipalities, seven of which hook up to the main sewage pipes. Today, these municipalities (Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich, Langford, Colwood, Esquimalt, and View Royal) pump over 130 million litres of sewage effluent into the Strait of Juan de Fuca every day, from Macaulay Point in Esquimalt and Clover Point in Victoria.<\/p>\n

Although that seems like a lot, researchers for the CRD says the tidal system and currents in the strait can handle it. The potential harm levels are consistently below their \u201ctrigger,\u201d which is when the level of toxins in the effluent starts damaging marine life.<\/p>\n

Some environmental groups disagree, and say that the trigger is set so high it\u2019s nearly impossible to reach. In fact, it was the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now called EcoJustice) who originally brought the CRD\u2019s method of sewage disposal to the attention of the provincial government.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not in my backyard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lynda Hundleby, a councillor for the city of Esquimalt, is disappointed with the February 8 decision by the CRD\u2019s liquid waste management committee to put a new secondary treatment plant at McLoughlin Point, which is near the existing plant at Macaulay Point, but wants to make it clear she\u2019s not necessarily speaking on behalf of the city.<\/p>\n

The site, which is at the northwest entrance to the Inner Harbour in Esquimalt, is currently owned by Imperial Oil, and generated $51,300 in property taxes for the municipality last year. When the CRD takes over, they will be exempt from municipal taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s difficult for us because we have a very limited tax base,\u201d says Hundleby. \u201cWe will not be getting any revenue from that land, and we\u2019ll have to make it up somehow. I\u2019m really unhappy about the fact that we\u2019re not being compensated in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundleby also feels that putting a sewage treatment plant in such a pristine location doesn\u2019t make sense. The plant will likely be visible from the cruise ship dock at Ogden Point, and to anyone coming and going from the harbour.<\/p>\n

\u201cEsquimalt is on the record saying we don\u2019t think this is a good use of prime waterfront land,\u201d says Hundleby. \u201cHaving said that, maybe there are ways to make it look better, but sounds to me like cost is the overriding factor. They\u2019re not really concerned with what it looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason for choosing McLoughlin Point is the existing infrastructure at Macaulay Point, which is just around the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pipes are in the ground going to Macaulay already, which was one of the main reasons we were told this site was chosen,\u201d says Hundleby. \u201cOn the one hand, I can understand that, but it\u2019s still a bit unfair for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundleby says that Esquimalt was never properly consulted about the McLoughlin Point site. Denise Blackwell, a Langford councillor, CRD director, and chair of the core liquid waste management committee, says they attempted public consultations several times with Esquimalt, but there were scheduling conflicts.<\/p>\n

Hundleby feels the lack of consultation might be due to the fact that, hypothetically, the CRD could put the treatment plant anywhere they want within the district, because municipalities don\u2019t have veto power. And, because representation for municipalities is done proportionally by population, Victoria and Saanich have nine votes out of 23 total. Esquimalt, on the other hand, has only one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter what the rest of us think,\u201d says Hundleby. \u201cThe bigger municipalities have control because they can out-vote us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmental politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the Macaulay and Clover Point sites, sewage goes through preliminary screening. It\u2019s sieved through a metal screen with six-millimetre holes, and the effluent is heavily diluted before flowing out over a kilometre offshore.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s then released through diffusers, 60 metres below the surface, where it\u2019s dispersed and transported by strong tidal currents.<\/p>\n

Also released into the strait is storm water, which is, essentially, anything that passes through the drainage system. The problem with just having preliminary screening in place is substances like fats, engine grease, and detergents make their way into the ocean, and can have adverse effects on marine life.<\/p>\n

John Bergbusch has an extensive background in municipal politics. He\u2019s also the chair of ARESST, a group of residents who believe the current system works, and the McLoughlin Point treatment plant is a mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the wrong proposal,\u201d says Bergbusch. \u201cThere\u2019s things [the CRD] could do to fix the environment, like improve the storm drains, and enhance the source control program, but the project that they are working on is the wrong program at a cost of $800 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergbusch says the CRD hasn\u2019t done adequate research. However, Jack Hull, the CRD Integrated Water Services general manager, says they looked at multiple options, including a scenario with several smaller treatment plants throughout the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of anything we didn\u2019t look at,\u201d says Hull. \u201cWhat was common with all of the options we looked at was McLoughlin.\u201d<\/p>\n

CRD director Blackwell seconds Hull.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent $10 million on studies in the last few years,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019d say that\u2019s plenty of research.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to members of ARESST, more should have been done to promote the unique environment in the Juan de Fuca Strait to the provincial government. The CRD has been conducting its own research in the strait to monitor the marine environment for years. Bergbusch doesn\u2019t understand why they didn\u2019t make a stronger case for the current method when they had the chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CRD\u2019s own research always shows the marine environment around the diffusers to be doing very well,\u201d says Bergbusch. \u201cWhat is the reason for going ahead with [the treatment plant], other than, perhaps, a public relations effort? One of the reasons we object is they haven\u2019t given us a good reason to move ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the reason given by Hull is simple: the province issued an order, and it wasn\u2019t up for discussion. Beyond that, he says, the federal government is moving ahead with legislation regarding sewage treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re supposed to be announcing it in March,\u201d says Hull, \u201cwith a requirement for secondary treatment by 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of this, says Bergbusch, the grounds for a treatment plant are weak.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not in the environmental interest, it\u2019s certainly not a green project, and it\u2019s a waste of money,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Antiquated technology?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dave Saunders, the exiting mayor of Colwood, is an outspoken critic of the CRD\u2019s sewage treatment agenda. He, too, feels that there wasn\u2019t adequate research done by the CRD, and that they\u2019re not thinking outside the box when it comes to technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this day and age, when we\u2019re presented with so much new technology, I feel that the CRD should have done a better job of exploring all the other opportunities out there,\u201d says Saunders.<\/p>\n

Hull says the design for the secondary treatment plant hasn\u2019t been decided on, and they will be accepting proposals from the private sector, although they won\u2019t be taking any risks. As it stands, sewage will be pumped to McLoughlin Point for primary screening, and the sludge will be piped to Hartland Landfill in Saanich for secondary treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to put in any experimental technology when there\u2019s no guarantee at the end of the day that it will work,\u201d says Hull. \u201cIt\u2019s got to be proven technology that, when completed, will function as designed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CRD will be looking for things like cost-effectiveness and energy use in the new design, but Saunders maintains they are relying on outdated mechanical engineering methods to make their decisions. He says even the idea of primary and secondary treatment needs to be revisited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was mayor, I had some people saying they could do the sewage treatment model for no cost to the citizens in the area, because they treat the sewage as a resource,\u201d says Saunders. \u201cFor that to work there should be no separation of solid and liquid waste, but that\u2019s what the plan is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the technological aspect of the McLoughlin Point plant, Saunders is concerned with its location for ecological reasons.<\/p>\n

According to the Natural Resources Canada website, McLoughlin Point is in the \u201cintermediate risk zone\u201d in the case of a tsunami. For Saunders, this is reason enough to discount McLoughlin Point as an option for sewage treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes no sense to put that kind of infrastructure in a single spot that is at such a high risk,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is no emergency backup with this plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cost of rapid growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most recent census data shows that Langford is the fastest growing city in the province. In the last five years its population has increased by 30 percent, to just under 30,000, and is projected to double in the next decade.<\/p>\n

While Langford enjoys the benefits of development, the population has grown faster than some of our shared infrastructure, like highways and sewers. This has lead to a lot of frustration for commuters and taxpayers, who now must suffer the burden of unforeseen growth.<\/p>\n

According to the CRD, the cost estimate for the new wastewater management facilities is $780 million, although infrastructure projects are known to run over budget.<\/p>\n

The provincial and federal government have said they will each pay for a third of the cost, with the seven core municipalities paying for the rest, but the CRD is still waiting for the funding to be guaranteed in writing. Official numbers aren\u2019t available, but it will certainly mean increased taxes for homeowners in the seven core municipalities.<\/p>\n

The rapid growth also affects the future of sewage treatment. At the current rate of growth, the McLoughlin Point plant will only be able to serve the regional population until about 2035. Hull estimates the plant will be up and running by 2018, which means our infrastructure investment will potentially be obsolete in 20 or so years.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the McLoughlin Point sewage treatment plant say for the near billion-dollar price tag this just isn\u2019t good enough, given the issue of inadequate infrastructure that we\u2019re dealing with now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy these generally clever people insist on forging ahead with this project is a mystery to me,\u201d says Bergbusch.<\/p>\n

Blackwell maintains they don\u2019t have a choice in the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were ordered to do treatment by the provincial government,\u201d she says. \u201cEven if we hadn\u2019t been ordered to do it by the province, the new federal regulations mean we would have to do it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The apparent simplicity of flushing a toilet has become a highly complex scenario in the Capital Regional District (CRD). The CRD has spent millions of dollars, and several years, deciding how to deal with its sewage. Since ordered by the provincial government to start treating sewage in 2006, the CRD and others have undertaken numerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-february-22-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2375"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2375\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}