Sechelt consultants have recommended that a planned new biosolids handling facility use an aerobic digestion process plus mechanical dewatering, and continue to produce a B-quality biosolids end product for use in mine reclamation and growing poplar trees at Lehigh.
This was at the core of a presentation made by Urban Systems at a packed public information meeting about biosolids treatment technologies Monday, Oct. 25, at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre.
The District of Sechelt is going forward with a biosolids handling facility to free up capacity in the community's two sewage treatment plants, so as to delay building a full new sewage treatment plant for five to 10 years.
At the meeting, Urban Systems representatives Joanne Harkness and Peter Gigliotti noted a range of rationales for the plan, including: affordability within the project's $4.8 million budget; using a process that complies with the Ministry of Environment's Organic Matter Recycling Regulation to reduce Sechelt's risk of falling out of regulatory compliance; and reducing trucking costs plus creating an ability to store the end product through dewatering.
The consultants also said that unlike some treatment alternatives - anaerobic digestion, for example, or composting - this plan would address the District of Sechelt's concerns about plant odours.
"We want to make sure that on a summer's evening, you can go out and have your barbecue without worrying about what odours you're going to smell,"Harkness said.
To explain why they weren't recommending an A-quality product, such as a compost local residents could use in their backyards, the consultants pointed to: the high cost of a thermal drying process; odour concerns with putting a composting facility in a residential neighbourhood; and the convenience and stability of the current deal to have Sylvis Environmental Ltd. apply Sechelt's B-quality biosolids at Lehigh.
Harkness added that the community could eventually build on this "springboard" option to create an A-quality product - by, for example, moving towards a composting option at the landfill.
Attendees, however, displayed quite a bit of opposition to the plan. Many raised objections to the chosen site on lower Dusty Road. Others wanted to talk about a full sewage treatment plant, rather than deal in "stop gap" solutions - a number of them voicing support for the sewage-treatment technologies of Ledcor, which self-funded a trial in the community in February. Ledcor's experimental technology creates a dried end product that can be burned for fuel.
Others took issue with the consultant's statement that Sylvis' mine reclamation efforts are generally accepted in the community, complaining of serious odour problems arising from the practice. Comments were also made that the consultants' report lacked pricing of processes such as thermal drying. One recurring theme was that Sechelt should be aiming for an A-quality end product.
"We don't want to be settling for something that is status quo, that we've done time and time again, and that may be good for the next 20 years, but it might not," said attendee Clark Hamilton, commenting that things could change with Sylvis or at a regulatory level.
"If we can look a little bit further ahead and try to achieve something that we can be proud of as a community, it might cost us a little more as a community, but I think people might be prepared to do that if it means a safer waste product at the end of the day," he added, triggering strong applause.
Attendees also demanded that the District of Sechelt hold a further public meeting, where details such as costing of different options are available, before proceeding with building the facility.
