During the past five years of close observation, as the Capital Regional District moved to development of a sewage treatment project for Victoria, I have attended many meetings and acquired an extensive library relating to the history of Victoria and its treatment of pollution.
The original site (way back in the 1990s) for a sewage-treatment plant was to be Macaulay Point, but the CRD asked for a long-term lease to no avail. A new base commander and new directives precluded a lease. The fact is, the DND surplus lands are now tied up with treaty negotiations. Also, Esquimalt asked the CRD to put the plant at McLoughlin rather than at Macaulay Point.
A recent motion to ask the chair of the liquid-waste management committee to ask for a meeting with the federal government mystifies me. How could this possibly happen with a provincial election imminent and given DND lands are tied up with treaty negotiations? This could only delay the project once again, resulting in greater costs to the environment and to taxpayers.
So the present plan is the McLoughlin sewage-treatment plant, Hartland or possibly Viewfield (which is closer to McLoughlin with a possible supply of district energy, which Hartland cannot provide and which reduces operating costs).
Please let us start looking after our small piece of this Earth and work together to take care of it by getting the sewage plant built and operating.
Michelle Coburn
Victoria
