Despite claims that Sechelt’s new wastewater treatment plant would serve the growing community “for the next 20 years,” former mayor John Henderson would not comment on the Urban Systems report presented to council last week that projected the plant will likely need to be expanded within six years at a cost of nearly $23 million.
“I think that’s just something that the district is dealing with and it’s not something I really want to get involved with,” Henderson said this week.
“I’m staying, as you can tell, out of the fray and I’ll leave it to the elected officials to make the best decisions in the interest of Sechelt.”
When the new treatment plant – the Sechelt Water Resource Centre – was envisioned and built during Henderson’s term, it was stated that the plant could take on an additional 14,000 people before it needed to
be expanded.
The Urban Systems report suggests the threshold for expansion would be reached much sooner, when an additional 2,258 single-family units are added to the system, representing an estimated 5,419 people.
Coast Reporter tried contacting former water resource centre project manager Paul Nash for clarification on the number discrepancy, but Nash did not return calls for comment by press time.
Capacity of the new plant was questioned at the time it was built, as the facility was said to be able to handle 4,000 cubic metres a day of sewage while the two former plants on Ebbtide Street and Dusty Road had a total capacity of 3,900 cubic metres a day.
The district explained through a frequently asked questions page on its website that while the two existing plants had a “theoretical capacity of 3,900 cubic metres a day, in fact, they are operating at close to capacity limits due to the inefficiencies of the processes – even though the current flows are only about 2,300 cubic metres a day.”
“The new plant will treat sewage to a dramatically higher standard in a system that will actually be able to handle 4,000 cubic metres a day – almost double what the system can currently handle,” the website states.
The same district website noted 5,500 people were connected to sewer at the time of the build.
The Urban Systems report takes into account new development on the books for Sechelt, which may or may not go forward in the timeframe suggested, so Sechelt may be able to stretch the deadline for expansion past 2021 – the timeframe given in the report.
Mayor Bruce Milne said council will look more closely at the issue while revisiting the district’s liquid waste management plan later this year. He also said council would look at other options like satellite treatment plants that could negate the need to spend another $22.9 million on a treatment plant that cost $24.9 million to build in 2014.
Funding for the $24.9-million project came from several different sources – $8 million from the federal Gas Tax Fund, $1.6 million from the Building Canada Fund, a $1-million grant that did not have to be repaid, a low-interest loan for $7.4 million, $1.6 million from the province of B.C., $1.68 million from the Sechelt Indian Band and $3.7 million from District of Sechelt reserves.
