The civilian commission overseeing Greater Victoria’s sewage project says it has given up trying to convince politicians that it’s safe to apply sewage sludge to land, after the idea was soundly rejected by the regional board.
It’s a “fairly likely outcome” that Greater Victoria will now need to build an incinerator to burn the sludge, at an estimated cost of $38 million, said Brenda Eaton, commission chairwoman.
That’s an extra cost not included in the sewage project budget, said Denise Blackwell, Capital Regional District sewage committee chairwoman. “It would be 100 per cent on the taxpayers of the CRD as far as I can see,” Blackwell said.
A majority of CRD politicians voted Wednesday to keep a 2011 ban that prohibits sewage biosolids from being used as fertilizer, because they are concerned about polluting land.
The civilian commission had asked politicians to reconsider, because it could shave $35 million off the treatment project’s $783-million budget. But the savings weren’t worth the risk, politicians decided.
“I’m disappointed with the decision they made, because it would have been a good environmental and financial solution,” Eaton said. “But they clearly listened to all the people who spoke. They spent six hours at it. I can only say they gave it their full attention.
“We consider it clear direction, and we’ll move on.”
Although the commission will keep working to find someone interested in buying dried sludge as fuel, that’s not likely based on the market, Eaton said.
The commission will launch a request for qualifications in the next month, asking for companies to come forward with technologies and ideas to build a sludge plant at Hartland Landfill in Saanich.
“We hope we’ll see responses from the people who are best in the world at this business, and that will help us understand more definitely what the market is for these various products,” Eaton said.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said she doesn’t think the commission should start the tendering process on a sludge facility when so much uncertainty remains. “I don’t think that’s appropriate, but I’m not an engineer, or staff, or the commission held accountable to those things,” she said.
Saanich Coun. Vic Derman continued to appeal to staff and the commission to research gasification facilities instead of incineration, but the CRD has said the technology is not proven.
The CRD’s failure to do the proper research on the project has come home to roost in numerous problems, Derman said.
The CRD will need to amend its official sewage plan, and get B.C. government permission, before it’s allowed to build an incinerator at Hartland. The Environment Ministry had no comment Thursday on the idea.
