Beginning in todayB次元官网网址檚 edition, Black Press and the Goldstream B次元官网网址 Gazette will take an in-depth look at the sewage issue which has plagued and puzzled residents throughout the Capital Region for decades.
The Capital Regional DistrictB次元官网网址檚 core area liquid waste management committee has recommended moving ahead with a wastewater treatment program that will feature treatment plants at VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 Clover Point and either McLoughlin or Macaulay points in Esquimalt.
ThereB次元官网网址檚 reason for optimism that Greater Victoria will finally find an alternative to pumping untreated sewage a kilometre out from shore into Juan de Fuca Strait.
However, weB次元官网网址檝e been here before, only to see the plan unravel amid political infighting.
The CRD identified McLoughlin Point as the preferred site for a single treatment plant back in 2014.
That plan never made it past the initial designs as Esquimalt council rejected the CRDB次元官网网址檚 rezoning application, following a series of raucous public hearings.
ThereB次元官网网址檚 reason to believe Esquimalt may be more receptive in this go-round, as a Victoria plant serves to share the load on sewage flows.
The issue has taken some dramatic turns in recent weeks.
The initial seven options, each of which included a main plant at Rock Bay, fell by the wayside as the committee focused on sites near existing outfalls at Clover and Macaulay points, saving the $250-million cost of piping the effluent there.
But the project still carries an estimated cost of more than $1 billion, which would translate to estimated household costs ranging from a low of $352 a year in Saanich to a high of $741 in Colwood.
To address those costs, along with the technical advances in sewage treatment and the regionB次元官网网址檚 history with the issue, Black Press assembled a team of reporters, photographers and graphic designers, who devoted hundreds of hours researching the subject and putting together a five-part series that runs Wednesdays and Fridays through April 1.
We can only hope that this time we are finally on the road to a solution and wonB次元官网网址檛 be sitting in the same place two years down the road, wondering how we got here.
