The post-project completion review of Sechelt’s Water Resource Centre (WRC) has been released to the public and it answers some long-standing questions about the building of the treatment plant on Ebbtide Street.
The report by Deloitte LLP was commissioned by the district at the suggestion of the Auditor General for Local Government. It cost $150,000 and involved the investigation of more than 9,000 files provided for the review.
Mayor Bruce Milne encouraged everyone in the community to access the report at www.sechelt.ca (via the Dec. 7 regular council agenda) and read it, so that the community can be “on the same page” going forward.
“Shared understanding should lead to reconciliation,” Milne said at the Dec. 7 regular council meeting where the report was accepted.
Answered in the report are the questions of where the decision to use Ebbtide instead of Lot L came from, what’s happening with the biosolids that are supposed to be composted to a class A standard, when the new treatment plant will need to be upgraded and whether any conflict of interest was found relating to the project.
Also highlighted in the report is the fact that the WRC has yet to achieve LEED Gold standard, that it uses approximately 13 per cent more power per unit of wastewater treated than was originally planned, that the annual operating cost of the new plant is higher than the combined operating cost of both old plants, and that the WRC is not producing effluent that meets provincial indirect potable reuse standards, which was a stipulation of the project.
On the question of where the Ebbtide location came from, the report shows that members of the project steering committee (PSC) made the recommendation to council in August of 2012.
The recommendation was made despite PSC meeting minutes from one week prior that offered an analysis of the sites and determined there was only one option for the new wastewater treatment plant – Lot L.
“It seems the PSC changed its conclusion,” the Deloitte report stated, finding no documented reason for the change.
On the PSC at the time was then mayor John Henderson, councillors Tom Lamb and Chris Moore, member of the public Paul Nash (who later became the project coordinator), a representative from the Coast Community Builders Association and the Sechelt Indian Band and several Sechelt staff members, including the CAO, director of engineering and superintendent of public works.
When the PSC recommendation came to council on Aug. 29, 2012, council accepted it and moved that Ebbtide as well as Lot L would be permissible locations.
On the issue of biosolids, the Deloitte report shows that Class A composting of biosolids left over at the end of the process is not being done, despite assurances it would be handled by Salish Soils.
The report shows that Salish Soils has been removing the dewatered biosolids from the Ebbtide plant but “has not yet implemented a [Class A] composting process.”
To date biosolids have been taken to the Dusty Road treatment facility for composting, then used as fertilizer for reclamation of the gravel mine.
“Success of Salish Soils’ biosolids compost operation will depend on whether they can commission a new biosolids compost facility and develop reliable compost product demand,” the report stated.
It highlights the biosolid composting issue as a risk and encourages the district to develop a contingency plan.
The Deloitte report puts a definitive timeline on when the WRC will need to be expanded to serve the growing population of Sechelt – 2023 – which is different than what came forward in two previous reports on the lifespan of the WRC. One pegged the expansion date within six years while the other pushed it well past 2035.
The cost to expand in 2023, according to the Deloitte report, would be about $13.2 million.
On the topic of conflict of interest, the report points no fingers.
It states that Henderson “strongly favoured allowing Ebbtide to be a potential project site for consideration by proponents,” but notes, “we do not believe that this indicates a bias for any one proponent over another because all proponents were given the same opportunity to select among the offered sites.”
The 94-page report holds much more information, including how long the district had been planning for additional sewer capacity and the steps each council took to get there, as well as some risk-mitigation strategies suggested by Deloitte.
Coun. Alice Lutes, who was on council at the time of the WRC build, said she hopes members of the community take the time to read the entire report.
“It, for me, was really good to have it all in one package to be able to go through and have all those reminders of the milestones that occurred through this whole process,” Lutes said at the Dec. 7 council meeting.
“It is very important reading for our community.”
Council accepted the report on Dec. 7 and asked staff to come back with an assessment of it, including things that were done well and how to go about fixing issues identified.
