Sechelt's Bio-solids Processing Options need Review Now
Tue, December 21, 2010 December 20, 2010
District of Sechelt
2nd Floor 5797 Cowrie Street PO Box 129
Sechelt BC V0N 3A0
Attention: Biosolids Handling Facility Committee (Sechelt Sewage Facilities Commission) and District of Sechelt Council
Dear Sirs and Madams;
It has been almost exactly one year since the CCBA was alerted by CCBA members Gina and Bill Stockwell and the East Porpoise Bay Residents Sewage Committee that the sewage facility planning process underway in the District of Sechelt was seriously defective. Having attended the SSFC meetings over the past twelve months and more recently Council's Biosolids Handling Facility (BHF) meetings, the BHF meeting last Friday did very little to dispel that impression. Creative, comprehensive and permanent solutions are getting short shrift.
A year ago the public was assured that the planning process would include a survey and assessment of available sewage treatment systems, which would lead to a decision in 2010 about a selected system and an accompanying pre-design report. Instead, the report issued on Friday is entitled the "Preliminary Report on Bio-solids Processing Options". It continues the glaring and oft-cited failure, as emphasized by several members of the public at the October public meeting, that staff and your consultants continue to focus solely on expanding bio-solids treatment capacity without sufficiently incorporating plans for a new primary treatment plant. And we learn that the next planned step is a January 31, 2011 public meeting that will only consider bio-solids treatment options. With a 2013 spending deadline looming this pace of progress is unsatisfactory and fails to address the vital issue of the overall treatment plan.
The development community is convinced that the biosolids-only approach represents a temporary fix and, as such, is short sighted. Further, continuing reliance on the existing plants at Ebbtide and Dusty Road until possibly 2031 falls short of public expectations about health and safety concerns.
A proven approach in our industry is to issue a call for proposals for a project that poses financial, physical, scheduling or other complexities and requires innovative expertise. Instead of plowing ahead with a partial response to Sechelt’s future sewage treatment needs, we strongly encourage the District to develop and issue a proposal call for a full sewage treatment system, including biosolids handling, in early 2011. If this is done, you could have clarity in terms of what’s possible, and could demonstrate to the public with confidence that other options and suggestions, such as Ledcor’s if they choose to respond to the call, have been duly considered. This approach would ensure that concerns about capital and operating costs are addressed with some clarity, before settling on a course of action.
We’re concerned that time is running out, and that the pressure to make a decision will lead to compromise, inefficiency and public disappointment. Opportunities should not be passed up due to the passage of more time before choices can be made and work started on the design and construction. We urge you to take leadership and show some vision - a proposal call will help clarify the District’s choices and provide something concrete to deliberate over.
Yours sincerely, on behalf of the Board of Directors
--- original signed by -----
Clark Hamilton, President
c.c. local media and community groups