On Monday, I appeared at the Esquimalt council’s public hearing to ask the council to approve the proposed amendments to the Esquimalt official community plan and zoning bylaws to accommodate the McLoughlin Point sewage treatment plant as requested by the Capital Regional District.
The CRD acts for the seven municipalities, and two First Nations by agreement, who participate in the Core Area Liquid Waste Management service and who in 2006 were required by the B.C. minister of environment to detail a fixed schedule for secondary waste-water treatment.
The requirement for waste-water treatment is also affirmed by the federal government’s 2012 wastewater systems effluent regulations, which now require the implementation of secondary waste-water treatment across Canada.
The environment minister approved amendments to the Core Area Liquid Waste Management plan in 2010, designating McLoughlin Point as the site for the treatment plant. The decision was made following several years of consultation, including more than 100 meetings.
At that time, Esquimalt council advised the CRD that the McLoughlin Point site was a preferred location over Macaulay Point. Since the 2010 approval of the Core Area Liquid Waste Management plan, the capacity of the plant has been refined, based on sustainability principles, operating feasibility, value for money and an approved and agreed-on funding formula.
Elimination of water reuse and a wet-weather plan at Clover Point allowed for consolidation at McLoughlin Point and deferral of a decision on a West Shore plant for several decades. This results in a cost saving to all participants of more than $180 million, while not negating the opportunity for resource recovery.
Several other significant components of the overall system are located throughout the service area. The process to site these facilities has always been collaborative with the aim of achieving mutually agreeable solutions.
Indeed, despite news reports of the ups and downs of the processes, many useful agreements have been reached, informed to a large extent by the participants who make representations to the various bodies and decision-makers that provide for our democratic governance.
Our consultants and staff have worked closely with Esquimalt staff to meet all of the application process requirements, including attending open houses, meeting with and responding to advisory committees, and explaining the opportunities and limitations the CRD has to consider when responding to Esquimalt’s concerns as a publicly accountable order of government and authority.
We have explained how we intend to mitigate impacts in the submissions made with the application. We have also been clear about the legal limitations the CRD has and we have been forthright about our obligations under the Environmental Management Act.
Therefore, I must say, with guidance from the CRD solicitor, the list of conditions and the form of the alternate bylaw that Esquimalt has proposed are well beyond our legal authority and in some areas unworkable. In this regard, I trust that Esquimalt council has been fully informed of the legalities and the CRD’s obligations and authority according to the Environmental Management Act and the funding arrangements and schedule that have the federal and provincial governments committing more than $500 million to the program.
A public-hearing submission will not allow the CRD to fully present the undertakings made to Esquimalt through supporting information and within the performance requirements to be secured in the competitive design, bid, build and procurement process. The budget for the treatment plant will devote up to five per cent to ensure design objectives are met in balance with sewage treatment requirements, with other resources devoted to mitigating impacts through specified performance requirements.
While there have and will be many challenges to see the Core Area Liquid Waste Management program fully implemented, the CRD respects that Esquimalt council will give due consideration to the input it has received throughout the process and at the public hearings. We remain committed to work with Esquimalt to complete this important regional facility.
Alastair Bryson is chairman of the Capital Regional District.
