The Capital Regional District has taken a step closer to locating a sewage treatment plant at Esquimalt’s McLoughlin Point.
CRD directors agreed that building a treatment plant at the proposed McLoughlin Point site is consistent with the Regional Growth Strategy.
Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins was opposed, saying the sewage plan does not fulfil objectives of the growth strategy, especially in the area of sustainability.
“One of the things we don’t want to do is to take [sewage] out of the ocean and put it on land and make it worse,” she said.
She said the plan does not have enough capacity and there is no room at McLoughlin for expansion.
“Our [sewage plan] right now doesn’t deal with anything longer than a 12-year vision. … That creates problems as we go forward,” Desjardins said.
Saanich Coun. Vic Derman said he found it “incomprehensible” that the existing sewage treatment plan could in any way be considered consistent with the growth strategy.
The plan does not adequately address climate change — one of the growth strategy’s underlying principles, Derman said.
“It’s an issue of, ‘Is this a well-designed plant consistent with the objectives and goals set out in the Regional Growth Strategy? … Does it take into account what the Regional Growth Strategy says and is trying to do?’ My answer is: No, it does not,” Derman said.
But others, such as Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, disagreed, saying the region needs to take responsibility for treating its sewage as others have across North America.
He said the current plans call for more than enough capacity for now.
“We recognize that a major bit of future capacity is going to come from the West Shore and the future highlights the opportunity for a second site in Colwood,” Fortin said.
Fortin said a distributed model of sewage treatment with several smaller plants was looked at and rejected as being exorbitantly expensive.
Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell said there is more than $100 million worth of investment in resource recovery within the existing plans.
