Province has role in sewage debate
Times Colonist Editorial
May 17, 2014
The provincial government ordered the Capital Regional District in 2006 to plan a land-based sewage-treatment facility and have it operating by 2016. The province should now step in and help resolve the impasse over the proposal to build the facility at McLoughlin Point.
It won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty — the project has been plagued by controversy from the start. It would be hard to think of an issue that has been more divisive for the region. There’s no reason to believe the road ahead will get any smoother.
It’s not a simple matter of pro and con. The CRD conducted studies, hired consultants, weighed options and alternatives and pondered long in formulating its plan. The opposition comes in various forms, from those who oppose pieces of the plan to those who oppose it in its entirety. The opposition is not a kneejerk reaction, but is based on research, genuine concerns and logical conclusions.
Some say there’s no need for a treatment plant at all, that the current system of discharging sewage into the ocean is environmentally acceptable, that the deep, cold currents dissipate the material adequately and help it decompose naturally.
That is not idle speculation — it’s a view backed by serious studies and respected scientists.
But scientists also back the view that we cannot continue to discharge sewage into the sea.
Others are concerned about the environmental effects the operation of the proposed plant will generate, including the discharge into the ocean of toxins the process will not remove. The sludge left over from secondary treatment must be disposed of, generating more worries, and those worries are not groundless.
The sheer cost alone — projected at this point at almost $800 million — is reason enough for nervous caution.
Some favour treatment as proposed but object to the proposed site, another reasoned perspective.
In the early stages, the CRD considered putting the plant at Macaulay Point, where it already has a pumping station. As a member of the Esquimalt council, Barb Desjardins advocated instead for McLoughlin Point, the site of a former oil tank farm, more removed from residential areas. It was one of the planks in her platform when she ran for mayor in the 2008 election, which she won decisively.
The CRD chose that site, saying it was the only spot in the region that was suitable.
A year later, Desjardins and the Esquimalt council opposed using the McLoughlin site, not a fickle flip-flop, but a change of mind based on new information — Desjardins cited studies showing the site was too small to accommodate the whole project. The sludge would have to be handled elsewhere.
The CRD acquired the McLoughlin site, which was zoned for sewage treatment. But when the CRD realized it needed a slightly larger footprint, it applied to Esquimalt for rezoning. David-sized Esquimalt said no to the Goliath-sized CRD, and thus the impasse.
While not everyone likes the direction the plans are going, the CRD has been doing its job in developing the project. Desjardins and the Esquimalt council have been doing their job in representing the wishes of their community.
The various lines have been drawn in the sand, and there’s little likelihood of those lines moving. One reasoned argument is countered by another. The debates rage back and forth, but few minds are changed. No one is going to budge.
Environment Minister Mary Polak has so far declined to have the province intervene, saying it should be sorted out at the municipal level. It’s obvious that won’t happen.
The impasse is a result of a provincial directive. The province should take a leading role in helping to end the stalemate.
© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist Editorial
May 17, 2014
The provincial government ordered the Capital Regional District in 2006 to plan a land-based sewage-treatment facility and have it operating by 2016. The province should now step in and help resolve the impasse over the proposal to build the facility at McLoughlin Point.
It won’t be easy and it won’t be pretty — the project has been plagued by controversy from the start. It would be hard to think of an issue that has been more divisive for the region. There’s no reason to believe the road ahead will get any smoother.
It’s not a simple matter of pro and con. The CRD conducted studies, hired consultants, weighed options and alternatives and pondered long in formulating its plan. The opposition comes in various forms, from those who oppose pieces of the plan to those who oppose it in its entirety. The opposition is not a kneejerk reaction, but is based on research, genuine concerns and logical conclusions.
Some say there’s no need for a treatment plant at all, that the current system of discharging sewage into the ocean is environmentally acceptable, that the deep, cold currents dissipate the material adequately and help it decompose naturally.
That is not idle speculation — it’s a view backed by serious studies and respected scientists.
But scientists also back the view that we cannot continue to discharge sewage into the sea.
Others are concerned about the environmental effects the operation of the proposed plant will generate, including the discharge into the ocean of toxins the process will not remove. The sludge left over from secondary treatment must be disposed of, generating more worries, and those worries are not groundless.
The sheer cost alone — projected at this point at almost $800 million — is reason enough for nervous caution.
Some favour treatment as proposed but object to the proposed site, another reasoned perspective.
In the early stages, the CRD considered putting the plant at Macaulay Point, where it already has a pumping station. As a member of the Esquimalt council, Barb Desjardins advocated instead for McLoughlin Point, the site of a former oil tank farm, more removed from residential areas. It was one of the planks in her platform when she ran for mayor in the 2008 election, which she won decisively.
The CRD chose that site, saying it was the only spot in the region that was suitable.
A year later, Desjardins and the Esquimalt council opposed using the McLoughlin site, not a fickle flip-flop, but a change of mind based on new information — Desjardins cited studies showing the site was too small to accommodate the whole project. The sludge would have to be handled elsewhere.
The CRD acquired the McLoughlin site, which was zoned for sewage treatment. But when the CRD realized it needed a slightly larger footprint, it applied to Esquimalt for rezoning. David-sized Esquimalt said no to the Goliath-sized CRD, and thus the impasse.
While not everyone likes the direction the plans are going, the CRD has been doing its job in developing the project. Desjardins and the Esquimalt council have been doing their job in representing the wishes of their community.
The various lines have been drawn in the sand, and there’s little likelihood of those lines moving. One reasoned argument is countered by another. The debates rage back and forth, but few minds are changed. No one is going to budge.
Environment Minister Mary Polak has so far declined to have the province intervene, saying it should be sorted out at the municipal level. It’s obvious that won’t happen.
The impasse is a result of a provincial directive. The province should take a leading role in helping to end the stalemate.
© Copyright Times Colonist
