Enough of this dumping sewage in the ocean, the province said firmly. Come up with a good plan for a regional sewage-treatment plant, choose a site and get it built.
That was 10 years ago.
Deadlines have come and gone, designs have been drawn up, the public has been thoroughly consulted, arguments have raged. Yet 10 years later, we are still dumping sewage in the ocean.
The time for talk has ended. It鈥檚 time for action.
The independent panel overseeing the sewage project will release its final report on Sept. 7. If the Capital Regional District cannot reach approval on its recommendation, the province should take over.
One of the two sites for the project on the panel鈥檚 short list is McLoughlin Point, the choice of the previous sewage-treatment panel. The project was all set to go in 2014, but the design called for a slightly larger footprint than anticipated and so a zoning change was required from Esquimalt.
After a public hearing that became an assault on the project itself and on the concept of sewage treatment, the zoning application was rejected. The CRD asked the province to intervene, but Environment Minister Mary Polak wanted local governments to resolve the issue.
But local governments haven鈥檛 been able to resolve the issue, and the cost to taxpayers continues to rise.
McLoughlin Point, the site of a former oil-tank farm, is still a good location. One mistake made by Seaterra, the previous entity charged with overseeing the project, was in not showing the public the design for the plant: an attractive, low-profile structure that would enhance the waterfront, not detract from it.
It also didn鈥檛 help when Seaterra surprised the public with its purchase of a piece of property in Esquimalt for a sludge-processing plant.
For nearly two years, local politicians tried to come up with a plan to replace the derailed project, with little noticeable progress. The province was correct to step in this spring and insist the project be taken over by an independent panel of experts operating at arm鈥檚 length from politics.
For it is a matter to be decided by technical experts, not by popular opinion. The public has been amply consulted; more public consultation will not result in some wonderful leading-edge technology that the experts haven鈥檛 thought of. You can鈥檛 crowd-source the design of a billion-dollar sewage-treatment plant.
The provincial and federal governments decided 10 years ago that Greater Victoria鈥檚 dumping of sewage into the ocean was not acceptable and decreed sewage treatment. Nothing has happened since to indicate that minds will be changed on those levels; it鈥檚 pointless to try.
The independent panel has narrowed the location for the plant to two sites. The final choice should be made based on what works best technologically and economically, not who does or doesn鈥檛 want it in their neighbourhood. Every effort should be made to ensure the facility does not unduly detract from its surroundings, but it鈥檚 a sewage plant 鈥� no site can be found that will please everyone and offend no one.
People have a right to be concerned about the region鈥檚 most expensive infrastructure project ever. They also have a right 鈥� even an obligation 鈥� to question and challenge decisions of elected officials.
But action must take over from discussion. We should get out of the way and let the experts do their job.
