The following comments were presented to the CRD's Core Area Liquid Waste Management Committee on April 13th 2011.
I will firstly speak to Agenda item #5 Core Area Liquid Waste Governance - a proposed by-law.http://www.crd.bc.ca/reports/corearealiquidwastem_/2011_/04april13_/2011apr13item05eww11/2011apr13item05eww11.pdf
In order to understand the implications of this by-law should there not be a draft budget presented for the Commission before you approve the by-law? From reading the proposed by-law you may be establishing in a Commission much of the function that you have currently been carrying out by means of consultants. This raises the issue of where are you going to get commission members who will be appropriately paid for their expertise to provide the functions described in this proposed bylaw?
Wastewater engineering, Wastewater treatment operations, Tendering and construction law, Alternative procurement methods, Project Management, Project Finance, Major Project Construction, Public Communications etc. These are the experts described in the draft bylaw.
Will not the best expertise be working for the companies who want a piece of the action in building the proposed plants? If you do not remunerate the members adequately you will not get the best expertise.
The commission appears to be a technical committee but only by understanding how it will be funded and seeing its budget will we know whether the CRD (and the public) are getting sufficient oversight of the project. Where will be the push back in controlling the costs? Will we be getting “Cadillac” thinking or will the taxpayers interests be served as they are by elected officials?
Once the Engineers and other specialists have control of the project the public can expect that there will end up being an increasing demand for more resources.
Nowadays you do not have doctors in charge of hospitals – it has not been so for many years. For very good reasons. The doctors are the experts in care and always as good professionals see a need for more resources. To-day those in charge of hospitals and health authorities have training and mostly graduate degrees in Health Administration or Business Administration. One benefit I notice is that the Chair of the proposed Commission will be appointed by the CRD Board and approved by the province. I suggest there should be a chair who is not an engineer but who has more of a Business Administration or Public Administration background with experience of managing large projects.
As a brief comment, on another subject, I would like to hear when we as the public are going to know whether an alternative site has been found for the proposed sludge treatment plant and whether there has been any rethinking of using a great deal of energy to dry the biosolids and send them to a lime kiln in Vancouver for burning.
Last time I spoke to you I felt somewhat insulted when one of the Directors (Victoria Director and Mayor Dean Fortin) at the meeting publically described my comments as “disingenuous” which according to the dictionary is described as “insincere, lacking in frankness or honesty.”
I have presented to you many times, as a volunteer, out of a sense of public duty, and have tried to be completely honest and to remain credible in my remarks, by checking out the facts as much as possible. I do understand that my comments may be contrary to the beliefs of some of the directors.
As many of you are aware there is very weak scientific justification for this project – the planned land based sewage treatment plants - which will have an adverse effect on the overall environment (marine, land and global). There has been no identification of any benefit that will result from building these plants. A vast about of public funds (currently estimated at $780 Million) may be spent.
The views I have presented are not just mine but are the result of discussions with at least ten Marine Scientists, Public Health Officials, members of ARESST and many members of the public.
In my view, and here I am being completely honest, the original order by the Ministry of the Environment for the CRD to plan for treatment was bad public policy. There is still time to rethink this provincial policy and in addition the federal “one size fits all” approach that is in the proposed Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations. Here in the marine waters off Victoria we have a unique receiving environment. The CRD’s two engineer designed deep sea outfalls through which the screened liquid waste is discharged, through long diffusers, and is effectively treated naturally in the marine environment.
I am optimistic and sincerely believe that there is a chance for a rethink of this megaproject which has been described as “a billion dollar boondoggle” and may cost the equivalent of at least ten Blue Bridges.
Thank you,
Dr Shaun Peck, Public Health Consultant
Member of Responsible Sewage Treatment Victoria www.rstv.ca
Board member of the Association for Responsible and Environmentally Sustainable Sewage Treatment. www.aresst.ca