Capital Regional District directors should pull the reigns on the proposed $782-million secondary sewage treatment project and look at emerging and alternative treatment technology.
ThatB次元官网网址檚 the appeal Saanich Coun. Vic Derman put forward at WednesdayB次元官网网址檚 CRD liquid waste management committee meeting.
Derman said new energy extraction methods in sewage treatment could make the current project a relic before itB次元官网网址檚 even completed.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins also expressed concern that directors are moving too hastily to implement the plan, which includes a wastewater treatment plant at McLoughlin Point and a biosolids energy centre in a yet-to-be-determined location.
Both the federal and provincial governments have pledged to contribute one-third of the $782 million price tag, but any cost overruns will fall on municipal shoulders.
B次元官网网址淭he further we go down these roads, the more we have adopted and accepted this plan, the less opportunity we have to revisit and re-look at things,B次元官网网址� Desjardins said later in an interview.
At the meeting, Desjardins put forward a notice of motion that calls for a re-evaluation of how federal environmental standards apply to the Capital Region and a request for exemption from federal wastewater regulations.
She also hopes the CRD will re-engage B次元官网网址減rominent scientists who are united in their opinion that we are not harming the environment and that we have the wrong plan.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淏asically, itB次元官网网址檚 asking this committee to take a stand and turn the table around, to stop,B次元官网网址� she said.
The committee also reviewed the first concrete cost-sharing formula between the seven municipalities involved in the project.
Councils are expected to pony up $37 million, collectively, each year for the project, but the formula will be reviewed by each municipality before being approved.
, with an estimated $391 annual cost per household by 2017, while Victoria comes in at $353 per household.
Esquimalt would need to charge its residents another $311 per household in five yearsB次元官网网址� time.
CRD staff cautioned committee members that the estimates are preliminary and will depend on borrowing rates at the time of implementation.
Dr. Shaun Peck, the former CRD medical health officer and board member for ARESST (Association for Responsible and Environmentally Sustainable Sewage Treatment), also presented his opposition to the project at WednesdayB次元官网网址檚 committee meeting.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 still time to apply for an exemption to the federal wastewater regulations based on the unique marine receiving environment of Victoria,B次元官网网址� Peck said.
dpalmer@vicnews.com
