Coun. Darnelda Siegers raised questions and concerns last week about the recent wastewater treatment plant report completed by Urban Systems for the District of Sechelt.
The report showed that within six years Sechelt may have to spend $22.9 million to expand its new sewage treatment plant and outfall in order to service the growing municipality.
“I have some questions for staff for clarification because based on these [Urban Systems] assumptions, we are looking at budgeting and capital costs going forward,” Siegers said during the April 20 regular Sechelt council meeting.
She noted that the Urban Systems report used average daily flow numbers that were stated in the 2012 water resource centre design build terms of reference, which assumed higher flow numbers than were later discovered by some temporary measuring tools used to help quantify the volumes.
“Given the water resource centre is now up and running, I’d like staff to bring back information on actual average daily flows and maximum daily flows so they can be compared with the estimated numbers used in the report,” Siegers said.
“The numbers that we’re using, that Urban Systems used in their report, are numbers that were temporary. We don’t know for sure if they’re valid. So I think we need that information brought forward.”
She also questioned the growth numbers used in the report.
“Growth projection numbers provided to Urban Systems came from the report put together from consultant Bob Twerdoff, when he did some preliminary work on the DCCs a few years back. At that time the growth numbers he used were considered higher than actual,” Siegers said, noting she’d “like to quantify and compare the actual growth with the estimates provided to Urban Systems.”
She said numbers used in the report could either be too small or too large, and either could have serious impacts on the timeline for sewer treatment plant expansion.
“Currently we’re at around 10,000 people. The expansion cost of $19.4 million assumes we have an additional 5,400 people, or half again our current population added in the next five years. Is that probable?” Siegers asked.
Her final question spoke to the number of units proposed to be hooked up to sewer in the future. She noted Davis Bay isn’t listed in the OCP as an area to hook up to sewer; however, the Urban Systems report included the area in its hookup projections.
“So I’m wondering why the Davis Bay numbers, for example, are in there,” Siegers said.
She also noted the report assumes the two new seniors’ developments (Ocean Stories and Wesbrooke by the Sea) will be fully built and occupied by the end of 2018.
“So I would like staff to look at those numbers as well and look at how they’re going to play over the next while,” Siegers said.
Mayor Bruce Milne said Siegers had provided her questions and comments to council before the meeting and manager of engineering services Sanath Bandara was armed with some preliminary answers for council.
Bandara said staff is working on getting detailed flow numbers, that the growth projections were based on building applications submitted to the district along with the developers’ timing projections, and that Davis Bay was included as an area to hook up to sewer based on a 1995 report that said Davis Bay should be connected.
Milne said the preliminary answers were just the start of what would be a “deeper discussion” in the future.
“I want to assure everybody that this report and other liquid waste issues will be on an agenda for a deeper discussion, not at a council meeting but at a committee meeting of some sort because there is a lot of information in it, and already a lot of, I’ll say, misreading of the report, even though it’s only been out a week,” Milne said.
The special committee meeting had yet to be scheduled at Coast Reporter’s press time this week.
