Editor:
I would like to thank Mayor Bruce Milne for doing a great job. In particular, I’m referring his realistic and non-grandiose view on sewage treatment, the single biggest perennial issue facing Sechelt taxpayers.
Yes, we are stuck with the new system foisted on us by the last mayor and council, but to see the report from Urban Systems regarding a $22.9-million upgrade to the new plant is ludicrous, to say the least. In my six years on Sechelt council I spent untold hours with Urban Systems and the district’s engineers looking at all the options. It was advised then, as Mayor Milne now states, that satellite sewage treatment plants are the way to service new hookups in the future. How refreshing to hear those words expressed by a knowledgeable mayor.
The plant we have now is better than the old one, but at huge cost. Why put good money after bad? There are many other options for adding capacity without spending massive dollars on a white elephant. Let the existing plant remain as is, let the “tourists” enjoy it, as was touted by the last mayor, but for heaven’s sake don’t spend another dime there. Was the bio-solids issue ever resolved? I think not. Sechelt still takes sludge from all over the Coast – perhaps our new MP, Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, can add this pressing issue to the Liberals infrastructure fiscal agenda.
The last thing Sechelt needs is another “bombshell” report about sewage inefficiencies; the last plant was supposed to cure all those ills. It’s time to take the blinders off and look at all the options, look at all the available lands and service areas and infrastructure. It’s time to think outside the box and address the fact that Sechelt is an undulating community that will need numerous options for sewage treatment as it grows. Pumping it all into the Salish Sea is not on.
Keith Thirkell, Sechelt
