5673 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Guaranteed!

[Victoria Watcher]

Plans to send the Capital Regional District’s unwanted biosolids to the Nanaimo area are a lot less firm than was earlier believed.

 

CRD board members approved the proposal on Feb. 8 after staff mistakenly said that the CRD had been in touch with the Regional District of Nanaimo, chief administrative officer Ted Robbins said Monday.

 

_______________________

 

The CRD is in a bind right now with nowhere to send its biosolids. They had been destined for the LaFarge cement kiln in Richmond, but that plant has been out of service. As biosolids accumulated, the CRD put them in the Hartland Landfill, something it is not supposed to do.

 

Robbins said that LaFarge is now saying that it may be able to resume accepting the CRD’s biosolids. If that’s the case, then it would likely not need to send any to Nanaimo. The CRD will continue its discussions with Nanaimo to develop a backup plan.

 

 

https://www.timescol...settled-6621749

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clown show.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 February 2023 - 04:34 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

That brought the board to the February vote in which they decided to start shipping biosolids to Nanaimo, where they would be used as fertilizer for logging and reforestation sites or mining areas.

 

But there’s one big problem. Nanaimo never offered to take them.

 

“At this point in time, there has been no proposal that’s been provided to the Regional Nanaimo District (RDN),” said Sean De Pol, director of water and wastewater for the RDN.

 

De Pol says despite no agreement being in place, Nanaimo is open to helping.

 

“We are interested in seeing the CRD’s proposal,” said De Pol. “We have not seen that yet, but absolutely there is benefit of resource recovery of any kind.”

For three decades, Nanaimo has been using its own biosolids as fertilizer on forested lands. De Pol says the region’s award-winning program hasn’t seen any consequences in the 30 years it’s been around.

 

“There is no migration of material off-site, and it’s beneficial for the vegetation,” said De Pol, citing numerous studies that have been conducted. “We have not observed any negative side effects.”

 

Unlike Nanaimo, what to do with Greater Victoria’s waste has split the region politically. Land application of biosolids is currently banned in the CRD.

 

 

 

https://www.cheknews...e-vote-1142897/

 

 

 

 

Maybe our sh*t is too good for Nanaimo.  Why are we just giving it away?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 March 2023 - 04:42 PM.

[Mike K.]

For three decades, Nanaimo has been using its own biosolids as fertilizer on forested lands. De Pol says the region’s award-winning program hasn’t seen any consequences in the 30 years it’s been around.

Oh man. That explains so much.

In all seriousness, we can all see then, that Canada banning the use of these fertilizers for consumers, and instead forcing people to pay top dollar for synthetics while Nanaimo dumps it all over the place because it’s a government entity, is a policy of optics and PCness. The US doesn’t ban these fertilizers and gardeners have cheap plant food, and treatment facilities get to make money from the byproduct. The CRD banning it is also a decision based on optics.

[Sparky]

What the heck is it about the combination of turds, construction and politicians that seems to always go wrong?

 

Glenda Luymes has penned an astonishing article for the Vancouver Sun about a sewage treatment project in North Vancouver that seems to be lasting forever at a cost that seems to escalate beyond the taxpayers worst nightmares. 

 

In order to bring you up speed, North Vancouver contracted Acciona Wastewater to design, build and finance a new wastewater plant six years ago for $700 million. After the project slid overbudget by $300 million and was years behind schedule, North Vancouver terminated the contract and lawsuits in the hundreds of millions are flying back and forth between them. The article can be read here. 

 

North Vancouver hired PCL to come in to advise and possibly fix the project. Hundreds of million dollars are expected to be spent yet before the first flush.

 

Hop over to the island and a similar pattern has been ongoing here for decades. Our beloved CRD originally purchased property in Haro Woods (by UVIC) as a home for our sewage treatment plant, except that was deemed unacceptable to the nearby neighbours. On the rebound they purchased property in Esquimalt on Viewfield Road, but eventually had to abandon that plan as the neighbours took to the streets in opposition. Both properties were purchased without public consultation. McLoughlin Point was then purchased, but the city of Esquimalt put the kibosh on that idea.....until millions of dollars were used to pay Esquimalt for the privilege.... but the project needed to be divided into two components where the nasty task of digestion needed to take place some 18 kilometers away at the Hartland landfill. Nothing that couldn't be accomplished by digging a massive trench and a few pipes.

 

So currently all that is up and running marvelously with the exception of how to dispose of the solid waste that is left over after all this construction. The toxic bio-turd is the red-headed stepson of the sewage disposal business. Originally this useful/un-useful byproduct was to be trucked over the ocean to Lafarge in Vancouver to be used as fuel to fire the cement kilns...but something (or a number of things went wrong with that plan). 

 

We now have a plan to truck this mess to Nanaimo for use as forest fertilizer...the only problem now with that plan is that nobody asked Nanaimo.

 

Stay tuned. 

[Victoria Watcher]

Hop over to the island and a similar pattern has been ongoing here for decades. Our beloved CRD originally purchased property in Haro Woods (by UVIC) as a home for our sewage treatment plant, except that was deemed unacceptable to the nearby neighbours. On the rebound they purchased property in Esquimalt on Viewfield Road, but eventually had to abandon that plan as the neighbours took to the streets in opposition. Both properties were purchased without public consultation. McLoughlin Point was then purchased, but the city of Esquimalt put the kibosh on that idea.....until millions of dollars were used to pay Esquimalt for the privilege.... but the project needed to be divided into two components where the nasty task of digestion needed to take place some 18 kilometers away at the Hartland landfill. Nothing that couldn't be accomplished by digging a massive trench and a few pipes.

 

 

 

I think you have a few things wrong here.  Haro Woods was to be holding tanks or small treatment plant (as part of a decentralized system), Viewfield was to be a biosolids plant.  Neither was to be the primary plant location.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 March 2023 - 06:21 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

What the heck is it about the combination of turds, construction and politicians that seems to always go wrong?

 

Glenda Luymes has penned an astonishing article for the Vancouver Sun about a sewage treatment project in North Vancouver that seems to be lasting forever at a cost that seems to escalate beyond the taxpayers worst nightmares. 

 

 

 

 

Fixing errors at North Shore sewage plant to cost Metro Vancouver an extra $85 million

 

https://www.timescol...million-6689299

 

 

 

It seems to be pretty standard practice to bid low on these projects to get the contract award, then find ways to add money and great profit later.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 13 March 2023 - 06:32 AM.

[Sparky]

I think you have a few things wrong here. Haro Woods was to be holding tanks or small treatment plant (as part of a decentralized system), Viewfield was to be a biosolids plant. Neither was to be the primary plant location.

My point was that the CRD purchased these properties without public consultation and didn’t use them.

[Mike K.]

We also had plan after plan materialize, then fail.

[todd]

Britain’s new biggest sewer!: https://youtu.be/5JuDNUgekRs

Space for bikes





More appropriate than on the street

[Mike K.]

Interesting. That BBC link says the current system dumps sewage into the Thames when it rains. Sounds familiar.

[todd]

Interesting. That BBC link says the current system dumps sewage into the Thames when it rains. Sounds familiar.

We probably had the same original architects.

[Mike K.]

And the same weather.

[Matt R.]

I think they should budget for some fenders.

We stayed in Battersea in 2019, quite the construction site!

[Nparker]

This is who comes to mind when I hear the name "Ursula".

[Victoria Watcher]

Greater Victoria’s $775M wastewater plant still seeing odour complaints

Neighbouring residents doubt the sewage treatment site’s smells will ever go away


https://www.vicnews....mplaints-665260

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 18 July 2023 - 01:36 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Despite it already being a heavily debated short-term measure, the Capital Regional District’s long-term strategy for biosolids could mostly include spreading the treated sewage on the land.

The CRD has been struggling to find a reliable, short-term use for the dried-pellet biosolids as the province requires the region’s long-term plan to be submitted by next June. A report by the consultant GHD lays out the provincially required beneficial use options the CRD could take after 2025, but they largely include one’s the region is already looking at or has outright rejected.

The recommended options include continuing the region’s current strategy of sending them to a Richmond cement plant, multiple kinds of land applications that have stirred controversy or thermally processing the biosolids but spreading them on land as a backup.


https://www.vicnews....osolids-1292543

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 August 2023 - 11:32 AM.

[Sparky]

^ “thermally processing” why not just say BURN.

That will be good for the planet.

[Nparker]

I suggest giving the biosolids a seat on each of the CRD municipal councils and in the provincial legislature. They can't possibly do a worse job than the current representatives.

[Victoria Watcher]

Why not just put it in steel barrels and take it out to sea?