The Township of Esquimalt has developed a new website dedicated to regional sewage treatment issues. TheWrongPlan.ca is now online as an information source on regional sewage treatment and options.
“The CRD sewage treatment plan as presented to the Province can work, yes, but I don’t believe it is the best plan for the region from an economic or environmental perspective,” said Mayor Barb Desjardins. “It’s a bad deal and a long-term burden for taxpayers, and there are several serious problems with the McLoughlin Point location, including the fact that 400,000 tourists travel past this location every year, and that the site is not expandable.”
The website includes an overview of the CRD plan, alternatives to this plan, current news, suggestions on how the public can get involved, fact sheets and publications. It also features a contact link for those who wish to show their support to the campaign.
“This is too important an issue not to have all of the information on the table,” said Mayor Desjardins. “I urge everyone to visit this website and get involved in the sewage treatment conversation—the decisions we make now are critical to our economy and the environment.”
Summary of Township of Esquimalt Concerns with the McLoughlin Point Site:
• The first glimpse of BC’s capital city that some 400,000 visitors a year would see from cruise ships and approaching float planes would be a wastewater treatment facility.
- Consultants have indicated that odours, even with closed containment technology, will be present.
- McLoughlin Point is across and upwind from the highest residential density areas of Victoria, James Bay and Songhees.
- Limited site capacity.
- No risk management plan, even though the site is within a provincial tsunami zone.
- The site, formerly a fuel storage area, will have to be rehabilitated. What are the costs?
- No resource recovery.
- The distance between liquid and solid waste treatment sites is 18 kilometres. Pumping sludge this distance represents an enormous energy expenditure.
To find out more, please visit www.thewrongplan.ca
For more information, please contact:
Barbara Desjardins, Mayor, Township of Esquimalt
Tel: 250-414-2101