- CALWMC MEETINGS CANCELLED UNTIL 23 FEB
- ESQUIMALT COUNCIL DISCUSSES SEWAGE PLANT 'BENEFITS', 24 JAN, 6PM
- ESQUIMALT RESIDENTS ASSOC SEWAGE QUESTIONS TO PARTY LEADER CANDIDATES
- DREDGING IN HARBOUR - STIR UP THE SEDIMENTS?
- COLWOOD PUTS ROYAL BAY PARCEL ON MARKET
- SEWAGE TREATMENT INCREASES ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT BACTERIA
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CALWMC MEETINGS CANCELLED UNTIL 23 FEBRUARY, NOT 23 MARCH
UPDATE FROM CRD OFFICIAL TREACE ALTON:
Hi John:
The posted PDF note is in error. It should state that the next CALWMC meeting is February 23 (not March). Thanks for bringing it to our attention and we’ll make sure it is fixed pronto! The CRD Meetings Schedule is correct in listing the Jan 26 and Feb 9 meetings as cancelled. The meeting of February 9th was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict as Directors will be attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainability conference that day.
As an aside, my role at the CRD has recently changed and Heather Raines is now assisting Jack Hull as Project Director. She can be reached by phone or by email hraines@crd.bc.ca .
All the best to you!
Treace Alton
Executive Assistant to the CAO and Board Chair
Capital Regional District
625 Fisgard Street, Victoria, BC V8W 2S6
Phone: | Fax: 250.360.3130
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ESQUIMALT COUNCIL'S SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE DISCUSSES SEWAGE PLANT 'BENEFITS' ON MONDAY, 24 JAN, 6PM
Discussion and consideration of public input on:
(1) Letter from the Capital Regional District, dated December 3, 2010, Re: Core Area Wastewater Treatment Project – Community Benefit Framework Reports
a) CRD Staff Report to Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee Meeting of September 22, 2010
b) Considerations in Preparing a Community Benefit Framework for the Capital Regional District’s Wastewater Treatment Program
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ESQUIMALT RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION (ERA) CONSIDERS SEWAGE QUESTIONS FOR PARTY LEADER CANDIDATES
From a member of the Esquimalt Residents Association:
Amongst other questions/statements aimed at the provincial level, I would like to see a question seeking an opinion on the quote below which represents one side in the sewage debate.
“Our best judgment is that the evidence demonstrates that the most appropriate and responsible sewage treatment method for Victoria is the existing natural treatment system (NTS) with improved source controls and infrastructure upgrading”. (www.rstv.ca)
More information on this significant ERA initiative to come.
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DREDGING IN THE HARBOUR - STIR UP THE SEDIMENTS? (graphic attached)
More than a hundred years of Victoria Harbour's industrial development has seen many harbour dredging events, with the last one probably being for
visit of the Queen's Royal Yacht Britannia in 1982. Until recent times, much of the highly-contaminated harbour dredgings were deposited just offshore, not far from the Quarantine Buoy.
Apparently now the dredgings are dumped off the west coast in deeper water. However, the churning caused by the dredging, as well as by ships propellors at low tide and the movement of fresh water south from Craigflower Creek and the contaminated storm drains all along the way, might counter Transport Canada's claims that the harbour receives more contamination from the Strait than the harbour contributes.
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ARESST: Deborah found news below and we may speculate that there could still be CRD sewage plant interest that Colwood wishes to stoke up with the sales announcement. The 4 hectares for sale would be the minimum size needed for a combined sewage plant plus sewage sludge energy plant.
COLWOOD PUTS ROYAL BAY PARCEL ON MARKET (sewage plant noted)
Erin McCracken
Goldstream News Gazette
January 20, 2011
In a bid to bolster city coffers, Colwood is sending out feelers to gauge interest in the possible sale or lease of a municipal tract of land.
The four-hectare parcel, which straddles Metchosin Road south of Latoria Road in Royal Bay, could be made available if a deal comes in that is sweet enough.
“Quite frankly this is exploratory,” said Ross McPhee, Colwood’s chief administrative officer. “Council wanted to find out if they could do something better (with the land).”
Issuing the request for proposals was prompted after parties, including the Capital Regional District, recently expressed some interest in the surplus land, said Mayor Dave Saunders.
In the past, the CRD indicated the Royal Bay area would be suitable for a sewage treatment plant, although that is not part of its current planning.
Fiscal opportunity is the primary reason why the municipality would even consider selling all or possibly part of the unserviced lot, the mayor said.
“I don’t feel it’s a good time to sell property,” Saunders said. “It would have to be a good deal.”
Any money generated would replenish the City’s general reserve fund and even provide a surplus, the mayor added.
“We’re in fairly restricted financial circumstances,” McPhee said, but not to the extent that a sale is urgent. “Are we really in a situation where we must sell? No. We’re just looking at all possibilities.”
Colwood hasn’t had the tract appraised, however, the enormous mounds of stone, rock and sand currently stored on the site were valued at $1 million last year.
In addition to the land, the municipality is looking to sell some of the fill but keep a supply on hand for use by its public works department for road surfacing and stormwater projects, for example.
“Basically it’s like money in the bank,” Saunders said of the stockpile of fill, adding that the City is interested in seeing whether or not there is interest in the acquisition of either all or some of the land, the fill or both.
The request for proposals was first advertised last week. Interested buyers have until Feb. 11 to submit paperwork, a deadline that could be extended if strong suitors need more time for research, said McPhee.
The idea of selling fill was bandied about in March 2010, coinciding with a looming tax hike in support of core services.
The chunk of land that potentially is up for grabs is the largest block of available land Colwood has in its inventory, and is currently zoned rural residential.
Following the proposal deadline, staff will prepare a report for council for early March, McPhee said.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
January 20, 2011
In a bid to bolster city coffers, Colwood is sending out feelers to gauge interest in the possible sale or lease of a municipal tract of land.
The four-hectare parcel, which straddles Metchosin Road south of Latoria Road in Royal Bay, could be made available if a deal comes in that is sweet enough.
“Quite frankly this is exploratory,” said Ross McPhee, Colwood’s chief administrative officer. “Council wanted to find out if they could do something better (with the land).”
Issuing the request for proposals was prompted after parties, including the Capital Regional District, recently expressed some interest in the surplus land, said Mayor Dave Saunders.
In the past, the CRD indicated the Royal Bay area would be suitable for a sewage treatment plant, although that is not part of its current planning.
Fiscal opportunity is the primary reason why the municipality would even consider selling all or possibly part of the unserviced lot, the mayor said.
“I don’t feel it’s a good time to sell property,” Saunders said. “It would have to be a good deal.”
Any money generated would replenish the City’s general reserve fund and even provide a surplus, the mayor added.
“We’re in fairly restricted financial circumstances,” McPhee said, but not to the extent that a sale is urgent. “Are we really in a situation where we must sell? No. We’re just looking at all possibilities.”
Colwood hasn’t had the tract appraised, however, the enormous mounds of stone, rock and sand currently stored on the site were valued at $1 million last year.
In addition to the land, the municipality is looking to sell some of the fill but keep a supply on hand for use by its public works department for road surfacing and stormwater projects, for example.
“Basically it’s like money in the bank,” Saunders said of the stockpile of fill, adding that the City is interested in seeing whether or not there is interest in the acquisition of either all or some of the land, the fill or both.
The request for proposals was first advertised last week. Interested buyers have until Feb. 11 to submit paperwork, a deadline that could be extended if strong suitors need more time for research, said McPhee.
The idea of selling fill was bandied about in March 2010, coinciding with a looming tax hike in support of core services.
The chunk of land that potentially is up for grabs is the largest block of available land Colwood has in its inventory, and is currently zoned rural residential.
Following the proposal deadline, staff will prepare a report for council for early March, McPhee said.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com
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Sci Total Environ. 2009 Jun 1;407(12):3702-6. Epub 2009 Mar 24.
Wastewater treatment contributes to selective increase of antibiotic resistance among Acinetobacter spp.
Zhang Y, Marrs CF, Simon C, Xi C.
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
Abstract
The occurrence and spread of multi-drug resistant bacteria is a pressing public health problem. The emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics is common in areas where antibiotics are heavily used, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria also increasingly occur in aquatic environments. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of the wastewater treatment process on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter spp. in the wastewater and its receiving water.
During two different events (high-temperature, high-flow, 31 degrees C; and low-temperature, low-flow, 8 degrees C), 366 strains of Acinetobacter spp. were isolated from five different sites, three in a wastewater treatment plant (raw influent, second effluent, and final effluent) and two in the receiving body (upstream and downstream of the treated wastewater discharge point). The antibiotic susceptibility phenotypes were determined by the disc-diffusion method for 8 antibiotics, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (AMC), chloramphenicol (CHL), ciprofloxacin (CIP), colistin (CL), gentamicin (GM), rifampin (RA), sulfisoxazole (SU), and trimethoprim (TMP).
The prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter isolates to AMC, CHL, RA, and multi-drug (three antibiotics or more) significantly increased (p<0.01) from the raw influent samples (AMC, 8.7%; CHL, 25.2%; RA, 63.1%; multi-drug, 33.0%) to the final effluent samples (AMC, 37.9%; CHL, 69.0%; RA, 84.5%; multi-drug, 72.4%), and was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the downstream samples (AMC, 25.8%; CHL, 48.4%; RA, 85.5%; multi-drug, 56.5%) than in the upstream samples (AMC, 9.5%; CHL, 27.0%; RA, 65.1%; multi-drug, 28.6%).
These results suggest that wastewater treatment process contributes to the selective increase of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the occurrence of multi-drug resistant bacteria in aquatic environments.
PMID: 19321192 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMID: 19321192 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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