The push for wastewater treatment surges on with a federally legislated deadline looming in the not so distant future.

With the process moving forward, a late submission has been floated for consideration as a potential treatment site. At the Tuesday meeting of the Westside Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery Select Committee, members voted to send the roughly three-hectare, privately owned property at 2 Hospital Way forward for technical analysis.

B次元官网网址淲e didnB次元官网网址檛 feel like it was a big stretch,B次元官网网址� said committee co-chair and Colwood Mayor Carol Hamilton about adding this new property. B次元官网网址淚t would certainly fit the bill.B次元官网网址�

Among the potential benefits of the new site, put forward by Associated Building Credits Ltd., is that nearby facilities such as Victoria General Hospital could use the treatment site as an energy source, she said. B次元官网网址淭hey would be well positioned to utilize resources from a heat and water perspective.B次元官网网址�

Last week, for the second time in a month, to include a privately owned property on nearby Watkiss Way on the list of potential sites for the CRDB次元官网网址檚 Eastside Select Committee to consider. The proposal had been brought back to council by Mayor Richard Atwell after the public showed a high level of interest in weighing in on the site.

In June, the possible sites that were deemed technically feasible for wastewater treatment on the West Shore. This list originally included 12 locations in Colwood, two in Langford, one in View Royal, and five in Esquimalt.

also offered a three-acre parcel of land for consideration after the original list was made public.

The 22 properties, including the VGH-area site, will undergo a detailed technical analysis that will help the committee narrow down the list of potential sites and the technologies best suited to each. Hamilton hopes the process will be completed by the end of the year. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 an aggressive timeline,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a commitment.B次元官网网址�

The push to find a new treatment site comes after Esquimalt council voted in 2014, after a major public outcry, against rezoning land at McLoughlin Point for the main treatment facility. That rejection put roughly $253 million of federal government funding in jeopardy for the proposed $788-million wastewater treatment project.

Those funds, however, are not a lump sum coming from one budget. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not something that was well understood at the board level,B次元官网网址� Hamilton said.

The agreement for the different portions of that funding were not just contingent on meeting timelines, but dealt with such aspects as the technologies used in the project, she said. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檝e agreed to hold the funding until we bring them the plan.B次元官网网址�

Hamilton said the federal government has agreed to extend the project completion deadline from 2020 to 2023. But many still fear that timeline may be too tight to allow for due process (see adjacent story), a situation that was blamed for the failure of the McLoughlin site.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e working diligently,B次元官网网址� said Hamilton. B次元官网网址淓verything that has been put forward has been acknowledged by council.B次元官网网址�

katie@goldstreamgazette.com