It’s all about the flush.
Liquid waste management is not a topic people like to linger over, but it is essential in any municipality.
Council recommended adoption of the district’s first liquid waste management plan at the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday.
The plan is for $17.1 million in upgrades over 20 years to liquid waste and sewage management systems in the district over the next two decades.
“As with any of our utilities or our services, you have to be forward-thinking in terms of making sure you’re keeping up with maintenance and that you are replacing when you need to,” Mayor Patricia Heintzman told The Squamish Chief. “So this plan is just to make sure we are keeping up with the growth demand, keeping up with maintenance programs, keeping up with new regulations the provincial government dictates that we have to adhere to. And if you don’t have a good strategy about it, then each year you are kind of shooting in the dark.”
Communities such as Victoria that have fallen behind on sewage treatment, for example, face huge financial hits, said Heintzman. Victoria’s Capital Regional District is currently facing necessary upgrades of more than $1 billion.
The Squamish plan includes programs to strengthen odour management and to fast-track UV disinfection of sewage effluent into the Squamish River. It also includes recommendations for an enhanced bio solids program, a plan to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant, a flow reduction program and a leachate management plan, which addresses the toxic water that drains from landfills.
Some of the items included in the plan are already budgeted for, according to the Liquid Waste Management Plan: Stage 2-3 report. About $2.4 million of the total cost of the plan is included in line items such as the source control program, and water conservation, the report states.
Conversions and upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant account for $12,303,000 in both capital and operating costs.
The integrated storm water management plan accounts for $2.1 million, and the flow reduction program will add up to $2,125,000. The source control program will cost $640,000.
Of the total expenditure, $1,278,600 is budgeted for capital and operating projects in 2016.
These funds will be utilized this year for, among other projects, the UV disinfection, environmental monitoring, integrated storm water management planning, flow monitoring and bylaw enforcement and outreach. The cost of the plan will be recovered through general tax revenues, utility fees and development cost charges, according to the report. District staff have worked on various versions of the plan since 2012. Council authorized staff to finalize the plan in August of 2014.
