‘Seaterra” evokes a fresh breeze sweeping the clean scent of the open ocean across a forested landscape. Spelled SeaTerra, it’s a luxury resort development on the northern cost of the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus.
Either way, Seaterra Program doesn’t sound much like a sewage-treatment project, which is undoubtedly one of the factors behind the choice of the new name for the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Program. Another factor is that it’s a lot easier to say than the original moniker attached to the project by those whose approach was more literal than literary. But even they were reluctant to use the word “sewage.”
That’s what it is, though — human waste that must be disposed of. It is smelly and a hazard to health and the environment. For most people, it’s not a pleasant topic of conversation. Changing names won’t make it smell better.
But the rebranding cost only $15,000, a reasonable price for such a move and a microscopic sum in a $783-million budget. At worse, it’s a harmless strategy; at best, a phrase that will ease communications.
The new name will have little effect on public acceptance of the project. Arguments have raged back and forth, minds have been made up, decisions have been rendered and the process is moving ahead. Whether Seaterra becomes synonymous with boondoggle or environmental success depends on the project’s effectiveness, not on a public-relations exercise.
