- ARESST VOLUNTEER NIGHT A GREAT SUCCESS!
CRD-RELATED SEWAGE NEWS:
- TAX INCREASE POOR JUDGEMENT (Hill column)
- POLITICOS CALL FOR FULL SEWAGE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY
- DOES VICTORIA EVEN NEED SEWAGE TREATMENT? (
- LETTER: POLITICAL WILL ON SEWAGE TREATMENT EMERGING IN CRD
- LETTER: SCIENTISTS, FORMER MP LIKELY HAVE FACTS STRAIGHT
- LETTER: SEWAGE PLANT COSTS A WORRY
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ARESST ACTION:
ARESST VOLUNTEER NIGHT A GREAT SUCCESS!
In spite of heavy rain, about 50 people answered the call for volunteer night. Richard Atwell led the presentation, with John Bergbusch, Brian Burchill and others supporting the event - all in our bright yellow tshirts! Thanks to all who brought goodies. Got some great volunteer forms submitted, some donations and some tshirts sold - AND built some interest!
Hey Aressters - if you haven't sent us your volunteer form, you can do it now!
VOLUNTEER: http://stopabadplan.ca/
Richard Atwell presenting to volunteer night participants. Thanks to ARESSTer Don Monsour for photo!
TAX INCREASE POOR JUDGEMENT (Hill column)
Edward Hill
Victoria News, Saanich News
October 19, 2012 9:00 AM
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO VICTORIA NEWS, SAANICH NEWS, GOLDSTREAM GAZETTE, OAK BAY NEWS
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CRD-RELATED SEWAGE NEWS:
TAX INCREASE POOR JUDGEMENT (Hill column)
Edward Hill
Victoria News, Saanich News
October 19, 2012 9:00 AM
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO VICTORIA NEWS, SAANICH NEWS, GOLDSTREAM GAZETTE, OAK BAY NEWS
I’ll say this right up front: I’m not eager to pay several hundred dollars more per year in taxes to feel better about flushing the toilet.
After decades of debate, bad publicity, many studies and one rejected referendum, Greater Victoria is about to spend $782 million on secondary sewage treatment.
For me, reality hit home when the Capital Regional District’s sewage committee released numbers that showed the possible tax hike for the average property. Living in a condo in Victoria, that’s about $300 or the high $200s (the average is $353) for my household. For my friends with a young family in Langford, it’s in the ballpark of $330. For my retired parents in Saanich, it’s an extra $230. If you are on a fixed income like they are, that’s a noticeable hit to one’s personal finances.
Looking back at the history of sewage treatment in Victoria, it’s hard to pry apart the ideology from the science, and what actually makes sense financially and environmentally.
Greater Victoria actually had a sewage referendum in November 1992. Residents had the option of paying nothing, paying an extra $232 in taxes per $100,000 of their property value (for primary treatment) or paying $336 per $100,000 of property value (for secondary treatment, which is what we are buying today).
If voting yourself a massive tax hike isn’t doomed to fail, I don’t know what is. Is it reasonable to expect that a person with a $200,000 home would voluntarily take on nearly $700 in extra taxes?
I’m pretty sure I voted for no tax hike back then, which, from one perspective, helped pass the buck to the current generation and my future self. Thanks for nothing, 1992.
Back then too, people in Washington State got all uppity about Victoria flushing its screened sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Some Americans even boycotted coming to Victoria, which was a credible threat when the U.S. dollar was worth something.
B.C. and Washington State banded together and funded a 1994 study that found effluent concentrations off Victoria mostly flowed over from Vancouver and Seattle, despite both cities having basic sewage treatment. The study found that discharges from Victoria had a “negligible” effect on the waters in the strait. Victoria isn’t at fault and we can blame Vancouver? Money well spent.
In 2005 I was working at the Ladysmith Chronicle when I met Mr. Floatie (a.k.a. James Skwarok), the famously effective mascot that upended science and the existing rationale with poop humour. Soon after, I called a CRD environmental staffer, who, clearly annoyed and for the millionth time, explained how the Juan de Fuca Strait diluted and flushed Victoria’s effluent to little discernible effect on the marine environment.
A few years later and after the province ordered secondary sewage treatment, the CRD’s official stance flipped 180 degrees. That must have taken quite a bit of employee re-education over at the Fisgard Street office. Repeat after me: “Screened sewage is bad, secondary sewage treatment is good ...”
A major independent scientific review in 2006 on the impact of dumping screened sewage into the ocean agreed that the Strait of Juan de Fuca is pretty good at flushing effluent away, and that bacteria plumes only rise to the surface during major rain events. Basically, the risk to human health is minimal, unless you are swimming laps offshore in a storm.
The report didn’t let the city off the hook – it said Victoria’s contribution of contaminants is probably minor, but the CRD needed much better information on the toxicity and impact on the marine environment near the outflows. It didn’t recommend sewage treatment outright, but said flushing wastewater into the strait isn’t a long-term solution.
It’s tough to argue against that. But is jumping to expensive secondary treatment necessary? If some form of sewage treatment is inevitable, the tax burden needs to be phased in incrementally. Victoria is expensive enough. Suddenly raise taxes by $300 and something will hit the fan.
-- Edward Hill is the editor of the Saanich News.
editor@saanichnews.com
http://www.vicnews.com/opinion/174656351.html
POLITICOS CALL FOR FULL SEWAGE ENVIRONMENTAL STUDY
Oak Bay News
October 19, 2012
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO VICTORIA NEWS, SAANICH NEWS, GOLDSTREAM GAZETTE
Two Greater Victoria politicians are calling for a full environmental study on regional sewage treatment, a delay others fear could jeopardize government funding.
Saanich councillor Vic Derman and Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen, who sit on the Capital Regional District liquid waste committee, want to halt work on the $782-million regional sewage project to conduct a full environmental impact and cost benefit study.
Derman maintains that every credible study points to minimal harm associated with the current system of piping screened sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The federal government should change its designation of that system from high to low risk, he said, a move that would delay the requirement for changing the current system by 20 years to 2040.
“Every scientist, and even the CRD’s own reports show that no damage results from the current system,” Derman said. “We don’t have any emergency here. It’s a three quarter of a billion dollar solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Jensen agrees. “What’s been missing, other than sanity and rationality, is a full environmental impact study,” he said.
“Theatre and perception is triumphing over science. It’s a bad basis for public policy making. Private industry wouldn’t undertake a project of this kind without study.”
Victoria councillor Geoff Young, the CRD board chair, disagrees.
He admitted that CRD reports don’t point to an environmental emergency in the current system, but said that it’s likely that damage to the marine ecosystem isn’t fully understood.
“It would be like taking an air sample in Victoria and using it to say that we have no carbon footprint,” he said.
Young said that delays have risks and that federal and provincial funding could disappear. “That could leave the municipalities to pick up the entire cost of the project,” he said.
Jensen has heard that argument, and said it falls flat.
“It’s a heck of a lot of money,” he said. “But that’s the point. If it’s not the right thing to do, we shouldn’t go ahead. Just think of what we could do with our portion of the money. A quarter of a billion dollars? We could end homelessness, improve roads and bike trails … the list goes on.”
Jack Hull, the interim project director of the regional sewage treatment project does not agree with any delay. “These are federal and provincial regulations. They are not optional. Nothing (in the plan) can change,” he said.
Derman’s motion for a study is scheduled for debate within the CRD sewage committee on Nov. 15.
“This is about the most important political issue we have (in Victoria),” Jensen said. “The only way we’ll be heard is if we collaborate and work together with the seven communities who have a stake in this.”
Information on the Liquid Waste Plan can be found at crd.bc.ca/wastewater.
http://www.saanichnews.com/
Oak Bay News
October 19, 2012
CLICK HERE TO SEND LETTER TO VICTORIA NEWS, SAANICH NEWS, GOLDSTREAM GAZETTE
Two Greater Victoria politicians are calling for a full environmental study on regional sewage treatment, a delay others fear could jeopardize government funding.
Saanich councillor Vic Derman and Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen, who sit on the Capital Regional District liquid waste committee, want to halt work on the $782-million regional sewage project to conduct a full environmental impact and cost benefit study.
Derman maintains that every credible study points to minimal harm associated with the current system of piping screened sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The federal government should change its designation of that system from high to low risk, he said, a move that would delay the requirement for changing the current system by 20 years to 2040.
“Every scientist, and even the CRD’s own reports show that no damage results from the current system,” Derman said. “We don’t have any emergency here. It’s a three quarter of a billion dollar solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.”
Jensen agrees. “What’s been missing, other than sanity and rationality, is a full environmental impact study,” he said.
“Theatre and perception is triumphing over science. It’s a bad basis for public policy making. Private industry wouldn’t undertake a project of this kind without study.”
Victoria councillor Geoff Young, the CRD board chair, disagrees.
He admitted that CRD reports don’t point to an environmental emergency in the current system, but said that it’s likely that damage to the marine ecosystem isn’t fully understood.
“It would be like taking an air sample in Victoria and using it to say that we have no carbon footprint,” he said.
Young said that delays have risks and that federal and provincial funding could disappear. “That could leave the municipalities to pick up the entire cost of the project,” he said.
Jensen has heard that argument, and said it falls flat.
“It’s a heck of a lot of money,” he said. “But that’s the point. If it’s not the right thing to do, we shouldn’t go ahead. Just think of what we could do with our portion of the money. A quarter of a billion dollars? We could end homelessness, improve roads and bike trails … the list goes on.”
Jack Hull, the interim project director of the regional sewage treatment project does not agree with any delay. “These are federal and provincial regulations. They are not optional. Nothing (in the plan) can change,” he said.
Derman’s motion for a study is scheduled for debate within the CRD sewage committee on Nov. 15.
“This is about the most important political issue we have (in Victoria),” Jensen said. “The only way we’ll be heard is if we collaborate and work together with the seven communities who have a stake in this.”
Information on the Liquid Waste Plan can be found at crd.bc.ca/wastewater.
http://www.saanichnews.com/
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DOES VICTORIA EVEN NEED SEWAGE TREATMENT? (mentions Galloway, Pedersen, Summerville, Rankin)
Luke Simcoe
Metro Victoria
18 October 2012
An upcoming by-election in Victoria is shaping up to be a de facto referendum on the city’s sewage treatment plan.
A proposed $783-million treatment facility has become a hot-button issue since the federal and provincial governments agreed to share costs for the project this summer.
The federal government ordered Victoria to start treating its sewage in 2006, but that hasn’t stopped some candidates in the by-election from questioning whether new measures are needed.
“Our situation is unique,” says Green Party candidate Donald Galloway. “We’re rushing the issue and condemning taxpayers to a huge increase.”
Figures released by the Capital Regional District estimate the proposed plant will cost homeowners between $232 and $353 per year depending on their location.
On Oct. 7, Galloway published a blog post questioning whether Victoria even needs sewage treatment. He says currents, temperatures and other aspects of the Juan de Fuca Strait render organic sewage a non-problem.
“Nature is on our side,” said Galloway in the post.
Although he stands by what he said online, Galloway told Metro the blog was a “work in progress,” and cautioned against dismissing sewage treatment plans entirely.
“Currently, it’s all being carried away and broken down, but at some point we may actually reach a critical moment where a decision will have to be made,” he said.
Galloway draws his conclusions from scientific research being conducted at the University of Victoria’s Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. The institute’s director, Tom Pedersen, says the environmental impact of Victoria’s sewage has been “intensely monitored” for decades.
“At the present time, and given our current population, there is no negative impact of any significance,” Pedersen says.
Pedersen says public opinion about sewage in has been influenced by problems experienced in Halifax in the 1990s and early 2000s. Raw sewage was pumped into the city’s harbour for over two centuries, eventually leading to significant environmental issues.
But comparing the situation in Halifax to Victoria is like comparing “chalk and cheese,” Pedersen said.
“Bedford Basin [in Halifax], is a very poor place to put sewage,” he says. “Contrast that with Victoria, where on our doorstep is the Juan de Fuca Strait, one of the most rapidly churning, oxygen and nutrient-rich bodies of water along the Western coast of North America.
“That distinction has not been recognized at the federal level where they paint all sewage treatment with the same paintbrush.”
Pedersen does say the Strait of Juan de Fuca has a finite capacity for handling sewage, but wouldn’t speculate how much Victoria’s population would have to grow to put stress on it. However, he expects the current sewage system to be sustainable for at least the next 20 to 40 years.
Liberal candidate Paul Summerville has also spoken out against the proposed treatment facility, while the NDP, represented by environmental lawyer Murray Rankin, does not oppose the new plant.
A date for the by-election has not been called since incumbent NDP MP Denise Savoie stepped down in August. However, it is expected to take place in conjunction with two others in Calgary Centre and Durham, Ont. near the end of November.
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LETTER: POLITICAL WILL ON SEWAGE TREATMENT EMERGING IN CRD (ROBERTSON)
Victoria News
October 18, 2012
Re: Sewage debate clogs CRD committee (News, Oct. 12)
How revealing it is to see some civic political posturing at the 11th hour of the Capital Regional District’s regional sewage treatment debate.
Are the silent majority of the public beginning to be heard?
There certainly needs to be some repositioning on the Victoria sewage treatment question at the provincial and federal levels.
With a provincial election in the new year and the federal byelection for Victoria looming in the more immediate future, the sewage treatment issue will unquestionably be on the minds of many voters like myself. It will be interesting to find out what the platforms of candidates running in that byelection are.
The current treatment plan is almost a billion dollars and likely to be full of cost overruns. Indeed, cost overruns seem to be a common occurrence, with large, publicly funded infrastructure projects. Therefore, may we assume we are on the precipice of yet another billion-dollar boondoggle, like the B.C. Hydro Smart Meter fiasco?
Technology is available which is more affordable, and which screens source contaminants better than the proposed plan, or so we are told by many leading scientific thinkers who have studied this issue.
Therefore, if this is in fact the case, you would think politicians and bureaucrats alike should be promoting such a solution, wouldn’t you?
Please let us all write to our political representatives and urge them to vote for science and reason to prevail on this issue. There are seniors, families, small businesses and others who can ill afford yet another fat bill from the plutocracy.
Ernest Robertson
Oak Bay
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LETTER: SCIENTISTS, FORMER MP LIKELY HAVE FACTS STRAIGHT (ANDERSON, M)
Victoria News
October 18, 2012
Re: Flushing our sewage far from an ideal situation (Letters, Oct. 12)
I would be interested to know what Tyler Ahlgren’s background is on this issue, as everything I have heard from marine scientists suggests that Victoria’s current sewage system is adequate and that adding secondary treatment would not lead to a significant improvement in water quality.
Primary and secondary treatment facilities are designed to remove solids as well as organic matter and are not particularly effective at removing nutrients and most other chemicals. I am curious to know what the “chemicals of concern” are that are 98 per cent removed.
Several of the communities mentioned in the article do not have good flushing into a large body of water (Sidney, Port Townsend, Sequim, Salt Spring).
There is also a big difference in scale for Sooke (serving around 4,000 families). David Anderson is someone who I know cares very deeply about our environment and I am inclined to think he has his facts straight.
Mike Anderson
Saanich
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LETTER: SEWAGE PLANT COSTS A WORRY (Newcomb)
Letters
Monday Magazine
October 17, 2012
Re: City Watchdog, Oct.11-17
Victorians are going to pay more for the unnecessary sewage plant than the Johnston Street Bridge, so Victorians should also be getting FOIs to find out how come the currently-estimated $210 million sewage plant has so many even-more-unnecessary "bells-and-whistles" that it’s going to to cost $782 million (+ HST).
John Newcomb,
via Facebook
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