- ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MEETS 25 APRIL, 9:30AM
- US WATERS POLLUTED BY 10 MILLION TONS OF DOG POOP
- DAWSON CITY SEWAGE PLANT TROUBLES CONTINUE
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ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE MEETS 25 APRIL, 9:30AM
AGENDA:
5. Community Energy and Heat Recovery from Wastewater and Potable Water
- Presentation (15 minutes)
- Discussion (30 minutes)
6. #EEE 12-20 Resource Recovery and Use Plan – A Business Case Analysis for Recovering Heat from Sewage
- Presentation (10 minutes)
- Discussion (20 minutes)
ARESST note: One funding option included in the sewage heat recovery plan is to add a rate rider to the regional sewage fees (Appendix A, page iv). When CRD sewage plan approved in 2010, range of possible costs went from $210 up to $500, for a plan estimated then at $782 million. However, the estimate is now higher, with a "ball parked" estimate at $791 million. And now the option of this rate-rider, looks like householder cost may be going even higher for some unspecified period of time to pay for the Energy Centre at Hartland landfill.
7. #EEE 12-23 Resource Recovery and Use Plan – A Business Case Analysis for Recovering Heat from the Bowker Trunk Sewer
- Presentation (10 minutes)
- Discussion (15 minutes)
8. #EHQ 12-25 General Manager’s Report
9. Report from Roundtable on the Environment
10. Report from Solid Waste Advisory Committee
11. Correspondence: Letter from L. Hutcheson to Mr. Randy Alexander, Ministry of Environment regarding Core Area Inflow and Infiltration Management Plan (April 16, 2012)
13. Motion to close the meeting in accordance with the Community Charter, Part 4, Division 3, 90(1)(a) personal information about an identifiable individual who holds or is being
considered for a position as an officer, employee or agent of the municipality or another position appointed by the municipality.
14. Adjournment
Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 9:30 am.
Minutes from 28 March ESC meeting: http://www.crd.bc.ca/minutes/
ESC Reports List for 25 April: http://www.crd.bc.ca/
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ARESST: A CRD land-based sewage treatment plant will do nothing about the contamination that continues to drain through storm sewers.
US WATERS POLLUTED BY 10 MILLION TONS OF DOG POOP
Jennifer Mueller
April 21, 2012
The 78 million dogs living in the United States create 10 million tons of feces annually, polluting waterways and posing a threat to public health, according to a pet waste removal service asking Americans to pledge to scoop the poop this Earth Day.
Dog Waste Threatens Public Health
“Dog waste is an environmental pollutant. In 1991, it was placed in the same health category as oil and toxic chemicals by the Environmental Protection Agency,” explains Virginia-based pet waste removal company Doody Calls in a press release. “The longer dog waste stays on the ground, the greater a contamination becomes. Bacteria, worms and other parasites thrive in waste until it’s washed away into the water supply.”
USAToday reports that 40% of dog owners do not pick up their dog’s waste at all and all that waste pollutes waterways. Because scientists are able to track the origin of the fecal bacteria to the species that excreted it, we even know how much. One study showed as much as 90% of the fecal coliform in urban stormwater was of non-human origin, mostly dog.
In just a couple of days, 100 dogs can deposit enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay, and all watershed areas within 20 miles of it, to swimming and fishing. Officials in Seattle consider waste from the city’s million dogs to be a major pollution source of Puget Sound. Dogs have also been shown to be a major source of water contamination in Clearwater, FL; Arlington, VA; and Boise, ID.
So What’s a Responsible Dog Owner to Do?
If you live in Cambridge, MA, you can drop your dog’s leavings into methane digesters to power the lights in some parks. If you live in Jefferson County, CO, you can join the poop patrol to remind your neighbors that there is no dog poo fairy (seriously). For the rest of us, the Natural Resources Defense Council has the following recommendations:
First, you definitely should not let your dog’s droppings lay near water ways, curbs, or even in your yard. What you should do is . . .
- Wrap it in a plastic bag (biodegradable, corn-derived, or regular) and put it in the trash (though not all municipalities allow this).
- Flush it. Dog waste can be managed by most sewage treatment systems and some septic tanks. (Do not flush cat waste because the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can survive sewage treatment plants.)
- Install an underground pet waste digester. Basically a septic tank just for your pet.
- Bury it in your yard. Keep pet waste away from vegetable gardens, the water table, and streams and buried at least 5 inches deep. Always cover fresh waste with with dirt.
- Hire a poop collection service. Services will patrol your yard for poop on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. What a service does with the waste will vary, but you won’t have to handle it yourself.
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DAWSON CITY SEWAGE PLANT TROUBLES CONTINUE
Yukon withholding payment to main contractor at subcontractor's request
CBC News
Apr 20, 2012
The Yukon Government says despite lengthy delays, cost overruns and an impending court battle, it still expects the Dawson City sewage treatment plant to be completed on time.
The government confirmed it is withholding payment from the main contractor involved in the project until a dispute with its subcontractor is resolved.
Corix won the initial bid and hired Han Construction out of Dawson City as subcontractor. Han Construction has now asked the government to withhold further payments on the project because it claims it isn't being paid for work already done.
NDP MLA Lois Moorcroft asked what the government is doing to keep the troubled project on track.
“Corix bid $25 million,” she said. “After 13 change orders, the Yukon government has paid $26.6 million to date, and now we have hit another bump in this long saga. What will this mean to the cost and completion of this court-mandated project to keep raw sewage out of the Yukon River?”
Public Works Minister Wade Istchenko said the Yukon Government isn't involved in any court dispute between contractors and subcontractors. He said he still expects the work will be completed this winter.
Moorcroft said that might be tough if workers and subcontractors don't get paid and refuse to work.
Dawson City has been under a court order to build a new sewage treatment facility since 2003, when the town was fined for dumping toxic sewage into the Yukon River.
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END
