Re: “Sewage costs seem out of line,” letter, Feb. 19.
The letter-writer suggested that to spend $783 million on a treatment plant is too high, and we would have to agree. In fact, the cost of the Seaterra Program includes the cost to build a wastewater treatment plant at McLoughlin Point, a resource recovery centre at Hartland landfill, conveyance pipes, pump stations and storage facilities throughout the region (nine separate projects) and includes inflation.
In total, there are 11 different major construction projects that are covered as part of the overall budget — not just one treatment plant. The Capital Regional District has chosen to build a wastewater treatment system using proven technology that is cost-effective to the taxpayer and environmentally responsible — and has secured the funding from the federal and provincial governments to do so.
We look forward to providing a complete system so that residents of the CRD will no longer be dumping raw sewage into the ocean. That’s something we can all be proud of.
Albert Sweetnam
Program director
CRD Seaterra Program
