Major Changes

After years of indecision on behalf of city planners and leaders, the push that finally lead to sewage treatment eventually came from the provincial government. On July 21 2006 the minister of the environment for British Columbia directed the Capital Regional District (CRD) to amend its current Liquid Waster Management Plan to include a definitive timeline for sewage treatment. After month after month of apparent foot-dragging and a lack of clear progress, the amendment was submitted to the provincial government almost one full year later, on June 29 2007.
The amendment calls for the CRD to have functional sewage treatment facilities by December 31 2016. The amendment calls for up to five sewage treatment facilities and one sludge processing center. The amendment has set December 31 2008 as a deadline for more specific plans for sewage treatment and as the deadline for specific sites for treatment facilities to be confirmed. The dates mentioned in the amendment are contingent on the both the Federal and Provincial governments provided one-third of the needed funding. If these commitments are not in place, the amendment allows for the CRD to delay the implementation of sewage treatment.
Details of the plans are still coming out and no doubt the numerous groups involved will be unhappy. For environmentalists, 2016 will probably seem much too far in the future for a problem which needs a solution now. For scientists who are not sold on the idea that the current system is harming the environment, the cost associated with this massive undertaking will be seen as an exorbitant cost to a problem which may not be a problem at all. More details of the amendment and the reaction by the key interest groups involved in the sewage debate will be the subject of upcoming blog posts.