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Colwood wants out of capital region’s sewage plan

Colwood has officially served notice it wants to go it alone on sewage treatment.
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Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton: Municipality wants to take modular approach to treatment, building as needed.

Colwood has officially served notice it wants to go it alone on sewage treatment.

Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton told the CRD sewage committee Wednesday her municipality wants the Capital Regional District to amend its core area liquid waste management plan to permit Colwood to build its own small-scale tertiary treatment plant by 2016.

The request will be debated by CRD directors next month.

Only about 25 per cent of Colwood residents are on the sewage system, with the rest on septic, so they don’t benefit from the current sewage treatment plan but are being forced to pay for it.

Hamilton said that by building its own plant, the municipality could take a modular approach to sewage treatment — building capacity as it is needed.

“This will create a modular add-on component so we can build as we grow and the costs will stay consistent,” she said.

The preferred location would be under the parking lot at the transit exchange near the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre.

Hamilton was reluctant to get into financing details saying there are “proprietary interests” that have to be protected. But she said it is within the municipality’s means.

Ultimately, the costs to the municipality could be about the same as residents would pay for sewage treatment through the CRD, she said.

“As it is now, we’re going to be forced into taxing everybody across the board for a system that, for the next 30 years, they might not even see,” Hamilton said.

Victoria Coun. Geoff Young, chairman of the CRD’s core area liquid waste management committee, said there are a lot of questions about what exactly Colwood is proposing, including the costs and whether it would meet environmental requirements.

Colwood staff say the municipality is planning a facility that would treat sewage to near potable water standards, eliminating the need for a deep-ocean outfall.

“I believe it would be their expectation that they could dispose of treated water either directly into the ocean without a deep outfall or in a creek or stream. I think there is some question about whether or not that would be acceptable,” Young said.

Colwood staff say the municipality would assume all costs and revenues associated with the finance, design, construction, operation, maintenance and future upgrading of the Colwood plant.

Colwood would stop contributing to the core area plant in 2015.

The proposed Colwood plant would maximize recovery and reuse of energy and water. Recycled water from treatment could go into such uses as toilet flushing or irrigation, reducing the need for potable water in some buildings by up to 40 per cent, say Colwood staff.

Colwood’s withdrawal would free up four per cent capacity in the CRD plant, Hamilton said.

Young doubted there would be much in the way of cost savings to the CRD if Colwood withdrew.

“Reducing a plant size by … about four per cent … doesn’t reduce the cost by four per cent. It reduces the cost by a much smaller percentage,” he said.

A previous idea had Colwood partnering with Capital City Centre, a mixed-use retail and a residential development, to provide treatment. But that development is now under creditor protection.

Colwood has been trying for years to get out of the CRD’s $783-million sewage megaproject. Colwood council voted to reject the project in 2009, paid $700,000 for a failed sewage-treatment pilot project, and then tried to partner with Langford to create a West Shore sewage solution. But none of the attempts was successful.

Meanwhile, CRD directors decided not to explore the possibility of a deadline extension for the region’s sewage treatment project.

Last year, CRD directors mused about asking the province if it would consider pushing back a 2018 deadline for the $783-million project until 2020.

Victoria Coun. Marianne Alto argued the extra two years may not be needed, but there would be little harm in formally asking whether the province would explore the notion of having a bit of a cushion in the event of unavoidable delays or to explore emerging technological options.

CRD directors, who deferred consideration of the idea until this month, decided Wednesday not to make a request to the province at this time.

The project’s next major hurdle will be in Esquimalt, where the rezoning of the treatment plant site goes to a public hearing Tuesday.

The federal and provincial governments have pledged $501.4 million, or two-thirds of the project’s budget.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com