The Victoria Sewage Treatment Alliance has been advocating for publicly owned and affordable sewage treatment for the core area for nearly 11 years.
The alliance is a large coalition of environmental groups, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, scientists, fishermen, ocean recreational enthusiasts and citizens from diverse backgrounds. Needless to say, we are disappointed the Capital Regional District is back at the drawing board, suggesting a new scheme of two plants, one at McLoughlin Point and the other at Clover Point.
It is unlikely the CRD will be successful in winning the support of the Fairfield community, as there is already an online petition and Facebook group against the idea. The CRD is also labouring under the threat of a Washington state tourism boycott.
Both Tourism Victoria and the Victoria Chamber of Commerce have stressed the urgency for Victoria to get on with it to avoid the devastating effects a boycott would have on our $2-billion tourism industry.
Over the past 11 years, we have learned that the CRD’s plan for a single centralized sewage treatment plant at McLoughlin Point is the best possible outcome for CRD taxpayers and the environment.
There are many reasons to support a single centralized treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. To begin, the McLoughlin Point plan provides near-tertiary treatment with its inclusion of advanced oxidation. Advanced oxidation is a proven technology that has a high removal rate of many toxins, including a wide range of pharmaceuticals.
This plan also includes the highest resource-recovery of any plan proposed by the CRD. The recovery of biogas, phosphorus and dried biosolids would be used to offset the operational costs.
A cost comparison demonstrates the McLoughlin Point plan is approximately $264 million cheaper than the CRD’s two-plant scheme. Operational costs for two plants are nearly double those for a single plant. Consequently, taxpayers will be paying hundreds of dollars more a year, indefinitely, for two plants instead of one.
Moreover, there will be high annual costs for trucking the biosolids from the two plants through neighbourhoods, while the McLoughlin Point plan pipes biosolids underground in a six-inch diameter pipe up to Hartland landfill. The McLoughlin Point plan will be publicly owned and operated, which will also reduce our long-term costs.
McLoughlin Point is also a better site for a treatment plant than Clover Point. Clover Point is one of the region’s most popular waterfront parks, while the public is not allowed access to McLoughlin Point. Unlike Clover Point, which is directly across the street from a neighbourhood, McLoughlin Point is 500 metres away from the nearest neighbourhood. It is only visible from the water, not from any house in the neighbourhood.
McLoughlin Point is also a contaminated site as it was a former oil tank farm. Furthermore, there would be less disruption to both Victoria and Esquimalt residents with the McLoughlin Point plan, since construction materials would be barged to McLoughlin Point.
Unlike many plans proposed by different groups through the years, the McLoughlin Point plan’s costs and treatment technology have been verified by engineers to be feasible and realistic.
Some people believe decentralized treatment would be far cheaper. If this were true, cities such as Vancouver, which is in the process of building a new secondary sewage-treatment plant on the North Shore, would opt for decentralized.
The original design for a single treatment plant for McLoughlin Point has capacity until 2045, compared with 2030 for the two-plant scheme, when both plans would require an additional plant to be built on the West Shore. Unlike any other plan, the McLoughlin Point plan has passed all regulatory and environmental tests, obtained provincial approval and construction could begin in 30 days, permitted under the existing zoning.
We are sympathetic toward residents who think that their quality of life might be negatively affected by the construction of a treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. Any fair-minded person would want the Township of Esquimalt and its residents to receive appropriate mitigation. We support that without reservation.
It is our hope that the CRD will soon reach the conclusion that a single treatment plant at McLoughlin Point is the most affordable option for taxpayers.
James Skwarok is co-ordinator of the Victoria Sewage Treatment Alliance.
