Editor:
Re: “Sewage outfall in Sechelt Marsh” (Coast Reporter, Oct. 10).
In regards to the new emergency overflow that has been installed from the Ebbtide pumping station to Sechelt Marsh, I would like to reassure Barry Pruden and the general public that there are numerous other protection options for the marsh and public health that have not only been considered, but are required, and have been implemented.
The pumping station is the low point of the entire system and is where an overflow is most likely to happen. There are four main protection measures to prevent this. There are high level alarms to alert the operators, and the storage volume in the system gives them time to take emergency actions.
In a power failure, it is powered by the main stand-by generator (which has a 48-hour fuel reserve). There is a third stand-by pump installed and online. If needed, the entire treatment plant can be bypassed to allow the station to pump directly to the ocean outfall.
If, and only if, these measures fail, the new pipe creates a controlled overflow directly to the waterway. If it were not there, then raw wastewater would rise to the surface and flood the surrounding area of the Marsh before draining to the waterway. This would create an unacceptable human health risk and extensive damage to the land areas of the marsh.
A commentary from the designers on the back-up systems has been communicated to the Natural History Society and is available on Sechelt.ca.
The use of high level overflows at major pumping stations is preferred by the B.C. Ministry of Environment as it protects people and limits the damage in these worst case scenarios. In the meantime, the District of Sechelt, like all municipalities, works very hard to ensure that worst case scenario doesn’t happen, and in the 36 year history of the system, it hasn’t.
Paul Nash, project coordinator, Sechelt Water Resource Centre
