Sewage Issues
Overview of Concerns with the Proposed Sewage Treatment Project include:
- There does not appear to be an urgent situation at the outfalls
This is confirmed by CRD monitoring and a number of prominent marine scientists as well as current and past medical health officers. There is some effect at the outfalls but it is not dramatic.
- Storm water, not sewage, is very likely the greater source of pollution
Our existing storm water system rushes water off the land into pipes that dump it into ocean waters near the shore. This water carries a wide variety of pollutants, especially if it originated on streets. With little or no opportunity for natural cleaning processes to take place, the pollution of receiving ocean waters is substantial. Evidence indicates it is a bigger problem than sewage outfalls.
- The current project is poorly designed to allow resource recovery
Modern approaches to sewage treatment attempt to recover resources such as heat. Resource recovery works best, however, when the system is designed to maximize it. The current project will be built “on top of” our existing system designed to collect sewage from around the region and move it to outfalls at the ocean’s edge. It is poorly suited for resource recovery.
- Environmental gains are likely limited, at best, with a net loss possible
The current project will offer, at best, limited opportunities for environmental gain. Any gains in the ocean will likely be at least offset by environmental damage on land, in the airshed and from increased energy to operate the system. No analysis of net environmental gain from the project has been completed. It makes no sense to spend nearly a billion dollars to accomplish very little.
- No cost versus benefit analysis of the project has been completed
If there will be little or no environmental gain, it’s hard to see why this project is being considered. We were, after all, mandated to proceed due to environmental concerns. In fact, no cost/benefit analysis has been done to establish what will be gained by spending nearly a billion dollars of public money. I find this completely unacceptable and unsupportable.
- Not enough emphasis is placed on source control
Source control aims to improve the “quality” of sewage by insuring that undesirable things like heavy metals never enter the effluent. The CRD has a very successful source control program which has considerably improved the quality of sewage effluent in the last 10 years. In some cases, heavy metals have been reduced by over 90%. This is a great success story that needs to be built on.
In the end, I’m in favour of moving to sewage treatment but in a manner that makes
environmental and fiscal sense. A new system should be designed around resource recovery
to help maximize environmental gain and minimize fiscal impact. As well, while we
could start in the near term, the system should be phased and timed to take advantage
of emerging technologies and the opportunities that new development or re-
Under the current plan, Clover Point could be a site for some infrastructure.
Letter to the Minister
Detailed Project Concerns
Times /Colonist “Comment”
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