This week Sechelt council took the first step toward making good on new Mayor John Henderson's promise to have a world-class sewage treatment facility built within 18 months of being elected.
Council held a special meeting right after committee of the whole on Jan. 4 to pass a motion asking for expressions of interest on potential wastewater treatment technology options for Sechelt.
"This is really us putting up a help wanted sign. We've got an issue, we need to deal with it, and anybody who knows how they can help us, give us some ideas," Henderson said at the meeting.
The issue is that Sechelt's current wastewater treatment system is nearing capacity. The previous council secured a grant, found a location and hired a project manager to oversee the building of a biosolids facility with the goal to extend the life of the current system until money to build a new treatment plant could be found.
Henderson was a vocal opponent to the biosolids plan at the time and lobbied council to look into different system options, saying Sechelt could afford to build a complete solution.
While the council of the day didn't have an appetite to go down that road, Henderson's council is eager to see what other solutions may be out there.
"One of the great industries, great growth opportunities, is in wastewater treatment, and I think we're seeing that all across the world. In fact, many companies have realized that this is a pressing need for a lot of communities, and so they've devoted tremendous resources to develop new technologies and to improve current technologies," Henderson said.
"I'm very confident we'll see numerous applications."
Henderson is also confident the grant money already earmarked for the biosolids facility will still be usable if a new plan is put into action, as a biosolids component will be included in any plan.
He is unsure if the current project manager would be qualified to keep the position however.
"At this point, they were retained to focus on biosolids, so whether they are interested or indeed capable of handling the broader project, I guess we'd have to discuss that," he said.
