- ARESST MEMBERS' PRESENTATIONS AT CALWMC 24 NOV MEETING
- OAK BAY COUNCIL DISCUSSES SEWAGE BENEFITS TONIGHT, 7:30PM
- CRD: MILESTONE YEAR FOR SEWAGE PLANNING
- SAANICH BUDGET TO BE INTRODUCED TUESDAY (sewage, water rates rise)
- ARESST: FCM'S VICTORIA 'SUSTAINABILITY' CONFERENCE - SEWAGE IN PROGRAM?
- PROZAC GETTING THROUGH MONTREAL'S SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS
- WINNIPEG: SEWAGE PLANT PROJECT DELAYED
ARESST MEMBERS' PRESENTATIONS AT CALWMC MEETING 24 NOV
4. Presentations/Delegations
a) Delegation: B. Furber, re item 5—spoke against the plan to recover heat from sewage on the basis of cost and efficiency.
b) Delegation: D. Langley, re item 5—spoke against the resource recovery and use plan on the basis that cost commitments have not been detailed.
c) Delegation: S. Peck, re item 5 and item 7—spoke against the resource recovery and use plan on the basis that the potential revenue from recovered biosolids is hypothetical. He expressed concern for land-based sewage treatment plants compared to the current system where screened effluent is diffused at the ocean outfalls and undergoes a natural biochemical process. On item 7, he expressed that the Macaulay and Clover Points Wastewater and Marine Environment Program—2009 Annual Report reinforces that the current sewage treatment system has no measurable public health risk and has minimal effect on the marine environment.
CRD Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee January 12, 2011
Agenda Item No 6 – Budget Status Report. David Langley – 4040 Haro Rd
$13.2 million remains in the planning and land acquisition budget. The report indicates that about $2 million per month of new expenditures should occur in 2011 on planning activities. This is a seven fold increase over the average $300,000 planning costs per month over the last four and a half years.
Senior professional staff and consultant costs can be very generously estimated at $240,000 per annum per person or $20,000 per person per month. The report proposal of $2 million per month in expenditures for ongoing planning on this project, excluding land acquisition, means 100 senior professionals working full time over the coming months at CRD taxpayer expense.
Despite this huge imposition on local taxpayers, there is no accounting of how the money will be spent. How much money on procurement documents? How much on site investigations, public engagement and “indicative designs”? How much on the 19 unjustified resource recovery studies introduced by KWL at the last CALWMC meeting? Does KWL already have a contract to proceed with those studies?
There is no assessment of the CRD share of the expected $2 million per month expenditures in 2011. The report emphasis seems to be to use up all the budget funding sources as soon as possible, including the Provincial and Federal grant contributions. Where are the regular progress reports to Committee?
Final provincial and federal grants are stated in the report as $6,666,666 in total. Many people thought that CRD was getting a 1/3 grant in this amount from each of the senior governments to support the $20 million project planning costs. It is clear that CRD is carrying a much heavier burden than most people thought.
The reported capital budget funding is $29.5 million for planning and land acquisition. The CRD operating budget allocation to the project to date is $6.1 million over and above the amount shown in the report table.
When the CRD operating budget costs are included, there is a potential spending total of $35.6 million. If the current budget surplus of $13.2 million is spent and the final grants come through as stated, CRD will carry $28.9 million or 81% of the total planning and land costs. CRD will carry 70% of the planning costs.
The attached graphic shows the stated project expenditures of $22.4 million to date. With the grants received and owed ($6.7 million) deducted from the total, the net costs to CRD are at present $15.7 million ($6.7 million for land and $9.0 million for planning).
Since no additional grants are anticipated, every dollar of further spending in 2011 up to the $35.6 million budget total will have to be carried by CRD ($13.2 million). The graphic shows extra CRD expenditures on land up to the $13.0 million total for land provided in the Amendment 8 business plan. The CRD costs on further planning up to the funding limit are $6.9 million if the spending outline proceeds. Net costs to CRD will rise from $ 15.7 million at the end of 2010 to $28.9 million during 2011 – an increase of 84%.
If CALWMC simply receives this report for information this would give staff and consultants the freedom to spend whatever they want within an approximate budget limit of $2 million a month.
Committee should table this report. No new expenditures should be approved until task outlines, justifications, budgets and CRD costs are identified for all components of the proposed 2011 program to ensure that all or part of the remaining budget is used as effectively as possible.
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OAK BAY COUNCIL DISCUSSES SEWAGE BENEFITS TONIGHT, 7:30PM
ARESST: Click here to download CRD's Community Benefits report. Since the sewage treatment plant itself is no benefit to the community (neither for Esquimalt, Victoria Harbour, nor the CRD), how does one fairly apportion the lost opportunity cost compensation the host community?
Communications:
Agenda item 4. 2011-50
CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT, December 3, 2010
Re Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project – Community Benefit Framework Reports
also related item:
Agenda item 5.2011-51
CAPITAL REGIONAL DISTRICT, December 8, 2010
Re Regional Sustainability Strategy (Marg Misek-Evans, Senior Manager, and Jeff Weightman, Planning Analyst, Regional & Strategic Planning, will be in attendance for this item.)
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CRD: "MILESTONE YEAR FOR SEWAGE PLANNING"
Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell is back at the helm of the Capital Regional District’s sewage treatment committee, although somewhat grudgingly, she admits.
Blackwell is chairing the core area liquid waste committee, a body steering the $790-million project with 14 municipal politicians who don’t always see eye to eye.
CRD board chair Geoff Young asked Blackwell to head up the committee and it took some convincing. Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff stepped down as chair due to the workload.
“(Young) had to twist my arm to a degree,” Blackwell said. “I’ve done it before. I know it’s a lot of work.”
“It’s also a job that doesn’t get a lot of credit,” Young said. “It’s an expensive project. Being chair involves spearheading the spending of a lot of money.”
Blackwell is a good pick, Young said, as she understands the complexity of the project and is from a municipality that isn’t sited for sewage treatment facilities, giving her a measure of neutrality.
As of now, the CRD has settled on a centralized treatment plant at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt, the site of a former oil tank farm, with a biosolids treatment facility at Hartland Landfill.
The central plant location could change depending on treatment technology and methods proposed during the procurement phase, Young noted, although he suspects McLoughlin is the most likely outcome.
“The McLoughlin site is not absolutely certain, but at this point it is the selected site,” he said.
“We are open to the possibility with new technology there might be more, smaller sites. New options might require different sites.”
Although the CRD has general funding commitments from senior governments for two-thirds of the project cost, Young said this year they would like to nail down specific, signed agreements.
“We have a general commitment on the political level. We don’t have signed on the dotted line agreements,” he said. “We have had assurances. The CRD board is comfortable the funding will be there.”
That level of comfort has allowed the CRD to spend $15 million in planning since 2006, with $6 million of that coming from the provincial and federal governments.
Young said the project is viable now, although planners are always seeking ways to lower the price tag, such as looking at other sites for the biosolids facility, closer to the main plant.
Another key task of the sewage committee this year is working with the province to establish a governing commission for the project, separated from the CRD.
“The provincial government wants the commission 100 per cent away from the (CRD) board once we are into procurement,” Blackwell said. “The board wants one or two voting members on the commission.”
Young pointed out that funding and governance are intertwined issues – senior governments giving hundreds of millions will have a say how the project is managed. The CRD board will need to wrestle with decisions related to what degree the commission controls the project and how far the CRD is removed.
“Certainly before responsibility is passed over, the funding will have to be in place,” Young said. “But it’s not all up to us, our funding partners will have views. It is a case of deciding what is acceptable to them and us.”
Check out www.wastewatermadeclear.ca for information and updates on the regional sewage treatment project.
editor@vicnews.com
What do you think?
Give us your comments by e-mail: editor@vicnews.com. All letters must have a name and a telephone number for verification.
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SAANICH BUDGET TO BE INTRODUCED TUESDAY
CFAX 1070
Jan 21, 2011
THE PROVISIONAL BUDGET IN SAANICH FOR 2011 WOULD CALL FOR A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE OF 2 3/4 PER CENT, TO COVER GENERAL OPERATIONS...BUT THAT'S ONLY A PART OF THE STORY.
OVER AND ABOVE THE 2.75, THE CITY PLANS A FURTHER THREE QUARTER POINT TAX HIKE TO RAISE MONEY SPECIFICALLY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE; AND A FURTHER ONE TENTH OF ONE PER CENT FOR NEW INVENTORY. THAT ADDS UP TO A GENERAL TAX HIKE OF 3.6 PER CENT...AND THAT'S OVER AND ABOVE THE VARIOUS USER FEE CHANGES.
COUNCIL HAS ALREADY APPROVED ANOTHER 5.8 PER CENT IN WATER RATES; AND 13 1/2 PER CENT IN SEWER RATES. THE PRICE FOR GARBAGE COLLECTION GOES UP THIS YEAR 6.8 PER CENT.
ON THE SPENDING SIDE, MAYOR FRANK LEONARD SAYS MOST DEPOARTMENTS HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED TO SHAVE THEIR BUDGETS BY ONE PER CENT...THE EXCEPTIONS ARE POLICE AND FIRE...WHICH WOULD BE AUTHORIZED TO ADD PERSONNEL...THREE IN THE POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND FIVE IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
COUNCIL GETS ITS FIRST DETAILED LOOK AT THE BUDGET NEXT WEEK.
http://www.cfax1070.com/
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ARESST: FCM'S VICTORIA 'SUSTAINABILITY COMMUNITIES' CONFERENCE - SEWAGE ON PROGRAM?
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual Conference will be in Victoria, 8-10 February (thats why the CRD meetings
are cancelled for that week), and while there don't appear to be any specifically-CRD-sewage speeches obvious in the
program, there are some related seminars, as well as a Dockside Green study tour focusing on its onsite sewage treatment.
Of course, the elephant in the room is not only Victoria's marine-based sewage treatment (very sustainable!), but the huge
cost of the federal governments proposal to "upgrade" all Canadian sewage plants to their idea of a national standard ($15 billion?)
Watch for possible public announcements about CRD sewage treatment issues close to that date. CUPE is an FCM sponsor, and
sewage treatment advocates like Georgia Strait Alliance or others might be interested in getting some publicity.
ARESST: Might be a good time for members to submit an editorial piece to the newspapers, reminding folks about how sustainable our
current marine-based sewage treatment system is!
Sewage-related topics on the program:
Thursday, 10 Feb, 10am:
Environmental Pricing Reform: Building the Financial Foundation for Wastewater Infrastructure Renewal
Thursday, 10 Feb, 1:30pm: Slowing the Flow: On-site Water Reuse and Recycling
PROZAC GETTING THROUGH MONTREAL'S SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS
Montrealers Are Feeding Fish Prozac; Research Shows Influence on Brain Activity While Long-Term Consequences Are Unclear
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2011)
City's capital budget down 16% this year
Bartley Kives
Winnipeg Free Press
01/22/2011
The City of Winnipeg has put off construction of a $365-million North End sewage-treatment upgrade for a year, giving Mayor Sam Katz more time to lobby the province -- and perhaps a new provincial government -- to end a dispute about polluting Lake Winnipeg.
On Friday, Katz and city council finance chairman Scott Fielding (St. James) tabled the 2011 capital budget, the city's blueprint for $370.1 million worth of road, bridge, building and waste water improvements this year.
There were few surprises in the infrastructure renewal plan, except for the absence of what would have been the city's most expensive project, the $365-million nutrient-removal facility at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre.
In 2003, the province ordered the city to build the nutrient-removal facility as part of a larger waste water treatment upgrade that will eventually cost the city billions. The province wants the facility to remove both phosphorus and nitrogen, which promote the growth of algae that cloud Lake Winnipeg during the summer, then die off in large quantities, depriving the lake of oxygen.
The city has long argued that in addition to phosphorus, it should only remove nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which is toxic to fish, and not bother with other forms of nitrogen, which the blue-green algae can obtain directly from air. Citing freshwater scientists, the city insists nitrogen removal will waste money and harm the environment. The province stands behind its own science.
"I've made it clear where science stands on the issue," Katz said Friday, insisting the nutrient-removal plant will be completed by 2014, as ordered by the province, no matter what happens with his lobbying efforts. He said he has no assurances from the Progressive Conservatives they will back the city's position if elected.
Fielding, meanwhile, said delaying the facility had nothing to do with the ongoing negotiations with environmental consulting firm Veolia Canada, which will help design and build the plant. The city's contract with Veolia to oversee at least $661 million worth of sewage-treatment upgrades remains incomplete.
Overall, the $370.1-million capital budget this year represents a 16 per cent drop from 2010, when federal infrastructure stimulus projects made up a sizable component of last year's $439-million capital budget.
The biggest projects planned this year include the $195-million Disraeli Freeway reconstruction, the $109-million Chief Peguis Trail extension and the $106-million conversion of the downtown Canada Post building into a new police headquarters.
The city is borrowing $79 million for the police headquarters project. Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt argued the city should borrow even more in order to conduct more infrastructure renewal.
"This is not even a stand-pat budget. It's a fall-back budget," Wyatt said.
City borrowing, however, is on the rise. A combination of conventional bank borrowing and private-public partnerships will effectively double the city's debt in five years, budget documents project.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.
Thursday, 10 Feb, 10am:
Environmental Pricing Reform: Building the Financial Foundation for Wastewater Infrastructure Renewal
Thursday, 10 Feb, 1:30pm: Slowing the Flow: On-site Water Reuse and Recycling
------------------------------
PROZAC GETTING THROUGH MONTREAL'S SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS
Montrealers Are Feeding Fish Prozac; Research Shows Influence on Brain Activity While Long-Term Consequences Are Unclear
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2011)
Around one in four Montrealers take some kind of anti-depressant, and according to new research, the drugs are passing into the waterways and affecting fish.
The findings are internationally significant as the city's sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities, and moreover, it is reputed to be the third largest treatment system in the world. Lead by Dr. Sébastien Sauvé at the University of Montreal's Department of Chemistry and André Lajeunesse, a PhD candidate, the research team found that the drugs accumulate in fish tissues and are affecting the fish's brain activity.
The Saint Lawrence is a major international waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, and it surrounds the island of Montreal. Sauvé has been looking at the chemical pollution of the water system for years. "Montreal has a very basic sewage system -- the city basically only removes solids, there's no disinfecting of the water," he explained. "In any case, the chemical structure of anti-depressants makes them extremely difficult to remove from sewage, even with the most sophisticated systems available."
"We know that antidepressants have negative side effects on human beings," Sauvé said, "but we don't know how exactly how these chemicals are affecting the fish, and by extension, the Saint Lawrence River's ecosystem." Despite a lack of information about the possible toxicity brought from these substances, the research group suggests an interesting tool to track the early biological effects of antidepressants. "Since the acute toxicity of antidepressants is less probable toward aquatic organisms, chronic toxicity remained possible. In this way, the suggested biomarker involved in the serotonin regulation in the brain may represent a promising means of determining subtle biological effects to fish," explained Lajeunesse. Chronic toxicity means harm resulting from long-term exposure, whereas acute relates to more immediate harm following a single high-dose incident. Serotonin is an important chemical that plays a role in feelings of happiness -- it's sometimes referred to as the "happy hormone."
Sauvé was quick to point out that there is no immediate danger to humans. "The amount of anti-depressants being released into our river works out to roughly the equivalent of a grain of salt in an Olympic-size swimming pool," he said. "That's not enough to affect people, should they are brave enough to go fishing out there -- I'd be more worried about the trace metals! Nevertheless, we are seeing an impact on the river's ecosystem, which should concern cities everywhere." Further research by other teams will look at exactly what the consequences might be.
This research received funding from the Chemical Management Plan -- Health Canada, the St. Lawrence Action Plan and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. It was published online by Chemosphere on Jan. 5, 2011. Christian Gagnon, François Gagné, and Séverine Louis at Environment Canada and Patrick Čejka at the Montreal Sewage Treatment Plant contributed to the findings.
Journal Reference:
André Lajeunesse, Christian Gagnon, François Gagné, Séverine Louis, Patrick Čejka, Sébastien Sauvé. Distribution of antidepressants and their metabolites in brook trout exposed to municipal wastewaters before and after ozone treatment – Evidence of biological effects. Chemosphere, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.
The findings are internationally significant as the city's sewage treatment system is similar to that in use in other major cities, and moreover, it is reputed to be the third largest treatment system in the world. Lead by Dr. Sébastien Sauvé at the University of Montreal's Department of Chemistry and André Lajeunesse, a PhD candidate, the research team found that the drugs accumulate in fish tissues and are affecting the fish's brain activity.
The Saint Lawrence is a major international waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, and it surrounds the island of Montreal. Sauvé has been looking at the chemical pollution of the water system for years. "Montreal has a very basic sewage system -- the city basically only removes solids, there's no disinfecting of the water," he explained. "In any case, the chemical structure of anti-depressants makes them extremely difficult to remove from sewage, even with the most sophisticated systems available."
"We know that antidepressants have negative side effects on human beings," Sauvé said, "but we don't know how exactly how these chemicals are affecting the fish, and by extension, the Saint Lawrence River's ecosystem." Despite a lack of information about the possible toxicity brought from these substances, the research group suggests an interesting tool to track the early biological effects of antidepressants. "Since the acute toxicity of antidepressants is less probable toward aquatic organisms, chronic toxicity remained possible. In this way, the suggested biomarker involved in the serotonin regulation in the brain may represent a promising means of determining subtle biological effects to fish," explained Lajeunesse. Chronic toxicity means harm resulting from long-term exposure, whereas acute relates to more immediate harm following a single high-dose incident. Serotonin is an important chemical that plays a role in feelings of happiness -- it's sometimes referred to as the "happy hormone."
Sauvé was quick to point out that there is no immediate danger to humans. "The amount of anti-depressants being released into our river works out to roughly the equivalent of a grain of salt in an Olympic-size swimming pool," he said. "That's not enough to affect people, should they are brave enough to go fishing out there -- I'd be more worried about the trace metals! Nevertheless, we are seeing an impact on the river's ecosystem, which should concern cities everywhere." Further research by other teams will look at exactly what the consequences might be.
This research received funding from the Chemical Management Plan -- Health Canada, the St. Lawrence Action Plan and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. It was published online by Chemosphere on Jan. 5, 2011. Christian Gagnon, François Gagné, and Séverine Louis at Environment Canada and Patrick Čejka at the Montreal Sewage Treatment Plant contributed to the findings.
Journal Reference:
André Lajeunesse, Christian Gagnon, François Gagné, Séverine Louis, Patrick Čejka, Sébastien Sauvé. Distribution of antidepressants and their metabolites in brook trout exposed to municipal wastewaters before and after ozone treatment – Evidence of biological effects. Chemosphere, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.
WINNIPEG: SEWAGE PLANT PROJECT DELAYED
City's capital budget down 16% this year
Bartley Kives
Winnipeg Free Press
01/22/2011
The City of Winnipeg has put off construction of a $365-million North End sewage-treatment upgrade for a year, giving Mayor Sam Katz more time to lobby the province -- and perhaps a new provincial government -- to end a dispute about polluting Lake Winnipeg.
On Friday, Katz and city council finance chairman Scott Fielding (St. James) tabled the 2011 capital budget, the city's blueprint for $370.1 million worth of road, bridge, building and waste water improvements this year.
There were few surprises in the infrastructure renewal plan, except for the absence of what would have been the city's most expensive project, the $365-million nutrient-removal facility at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre.
In 2003, the province ordered the city to build the nutrient-removal facility as part of a larger waste water treatment upgrade that will eventually cost the city billions. The province wants the facility to remove both phosphorus and nitrogen, which promote the growth of algae that cloud Lake Winnipeg during the summer, then die off in large quantities, depriving the lake of oxygen.
The city has long argued that in addition to phosphorus, it should only remove nitrogen in the form of ammonia, which is toxic to fish, and not bother with other forms of nitrogen, which the blue-green algae can obtain directly from air. Citing freshwater scientists, the city insists nitrogen removal will waste money and harm the environment. The province stands behind its own science.
"I've made it clear where science stands on the issue," Katz said Friday, insisting the nutrient-removal plant will be completed by 2014, as ordered by the province, no matter what happens with his lobbying efforts. He said he has no assurances from the Progressive Conservatives they will back the city's position if elected.
Fielding, meanwhile, said delaying the facility had nothing to do with the ongoing negotiations with environmental consulting firm Veolia Canada, which will help design and build the plant. The city's contract with Veolia to oversee at least $661 million worth of sewage-treatment upgrades remains incomplete.
Overall, the $370.1-million capital budget this year represents a 16 per cent drop from 2010, when federal infrastructure stimulus projects made up a sizable component of last year's $439-million capital budget.
The biggest projects planned this year include the $195-million Disraeli Freeway reconstruction, the $109-million Chief Peguis Trail extension and the $106-million conversion of the downtown Canada Post building into a new police headquarters.
The city is borrowing $79 million for the police headquarters project. Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt argued the city should borrow even more in order to conduct more infrastructure renewal.
"This is not even a stand-pat budget. It's a fall-back budget," Wyatt said.
City borrowing, however, is on the rise. A combination of conventional bank borrowing and private-public partnerships will effectively double the city's debt in five years, budget documents project.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.
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END.
