Re: “Delays to Seaterra program cost all of us,” April 29.
In his commentary, Seaterra director Albert Sweetnam says: “I think we can all agree that we have been dumping raw sewage into our ocean for far too long.” I don’t know if they have changed their minds, but as I recall, all, or at least most, of the scientific evidence and all of the public health officials most certainly did not agree.
In fact, I recall them saying it was a colossal waste of taxpayer’s money and could do more harm to the environment than good. The decision to push this project was made by politicians for political reasons and resulted in the chaos we are now witnessing.
Sometime in the future, we will undoubtedly need to treat our sewage. Had this been recognized and planned on a reasonable time line, the whole exercise might have proven to be quite palatable. But when governments make bad decisions, the results are always the same. By the time the need is real, the current project will probably not be able to handle it and the cost will escalate even more.
It’s time Seaterra and all the politicians stood back and took a rational look at what has happened and stop wasting more time and money fighting over what is nothing more than a pipe dream, a very smelly one.
Furthermore, comparing our outfall with those of the Saanich Peninsula and Saltspring Island is nothing but a red herring, testing Seaterra’s credibility.
Jack Trueman
Brentwood Bay
