It is an exercise in futility to search for the perfect location for the regional sewage-treatment plant 鈥� such a site does not exist. No matter where the project is built, objections will be lodged, drawbacks will be discovered, obstacles will be encountered.
So pick the least-objectionable site and get on with it.
That doesn鈥檛 mean ignoring concerns of those who will live nearest the plant. The public should be fully informed and given reasonable opportunity for input, but the time is quickly approaching to close debate and make a decision.
It has been nine years since the provincial government ordered the Capital Regional District to abandon ocean discharge and find a new approach. The federal government has also ordered that municipalities stop discharging raw sewage into waterways.
Trying to persuade either government to reverse course and accept the status quo would be pointless, frustrating and probably expensive.
Intensive research by engineers and other qualified people went into designing a plant to treat the region鈥檚 wastewater. Plans to build the plant at McLoughlin Point fell through when Esquimalt refused to rezone the site.
The process was not helped when the CRD, without public consultation, bought a site on Esquimalt鈥檚 Viewfield Road with the idea of building a plant there to handle the biosolids from the treatment plant. Esquimalt residents were justified in believing their municipality would carry an unfair share of the burden.
While opinions have differed on technology, the main problem has been political 鈥� where to put the plant. Two committees have examined a variety of sites in the region, and have considered whether the project could comprise multiple smaller plants instead of one large one.
It has been a rocky journey, but it looks as if the journey could end at Rock Bay at the edge of Victoria鈥檚 Inner Harbour, the site being recommended by the CRD鈥檚 core area liquid waste management committee. All four treatment options thought to be viable by the CRD consultant team and its technical-oversight panel include a 鈥渟ignificant site鈥� at Rock Bay with upgrades at Clover Point to handle water flows.
Over the decades, industrial activity along the shores of Rock Bay has included sawmills, a tannery, a coal-gasification plant, a propane tank farm, and a concrete and asphalt plant. Pollutants from those industries are being removed from the site.
A sewage plant would be an improvement over what has been there in the past. It presents an opportunity to use attractive architecture. It鈥檚 possible to combine the plant with other facilities, as other cities have done. Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps has mused that a casino could be built in conjunction with the sewage plant.
The focus now should not be on finding the mythical perfect site, but on choosing a site and making it work.
