5686 replies to this topic

[G-Man]

This is true but I think it would be hard to implement in older construction.

[Ms. B. Havin]

This is true but I think it would be hard to implement in older construction.

Why? I know of people who have put composting toilets into their old houses. If there's a will, and if we figure out how to use waste as a resource (i.e., make it come out at least a bit even financially, and also start to calculate all the negative externalities of always putting our waste "out there," as though it gets taken care of naturally, regardless of how much we're putting out), there's a way. (Re. people putting the composted waste in gardens, which condo dwellers don't have: it could be picked up, for delivery to an energy plant.) Would most people say it's impossible? Sure. But I like Jaron Lanier's take on the individual and the collective (the collective in this instance being the majority who says we have to do things the old way, not the new way). This is from Lanier's [url=http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge183.html:07c2b]Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism[/url:07c2b]:

What makes a market work, for instance, is the marriage of collective and individual intelligence. A marketplace can't exist only on the basis of having prices determined by competition. It also needs entrepreneurs to come up with the products that are competing in the first place.

In other words, clever individuals, the heroes of the marketplace, ask the questions which are answered by collective behavior. They put the jellybeans in the jar.

(The jellybean ref is to business school exercises where students are asked to estimate the number of jellybeans in a jar.)

[ressen]

The 'street' price of water (as the cops would say) is at least a dollar a litre. Using the street price of water for what we flush out to sea ; not treating our water is costing us $ many millions a day.

[G-Man]

I agree raising water rates is a great way to help conservation. People will pay 2.50 or more a litre at the store but are willing "accidently" run their sprinkler all night.

I am not saying raise it to a dollar a litre that would be extreme. I mean flushing the toilet would cost most of us 8 or 10 dollars.

Still I forget how much we pay now but it truly pennies.

[ressen]

compost our poop and sell our fresh water to the southern states. Like a co-op everyone gets a share (of the money).

[renthefinn]

I've got a long term plan, It'll pay off, but most people will disregard a long term plan if they don't see results in a few years.

We should send our waste to Mars with missle-like rockets, bombarding the planet. There are so many microbes in most sewage, that eventually life will establish on mars (say a couple of hundred years) and if we colonize sooner, it'll be a resource of some sort!

[VicHockeyFan]

I've got a long term plan, It'll pay off, but most people will disregard a long term plan if they don't see results in a few years.

We should send our waste to Mars with missle-like rockets, bombarding the planet. There are so many microbes in most sewage, that eventually life will establish on mars (say a couple of hundred years) and if we colonize sooner, it'll be a resource of some sort!

What if the new Martian lifeform evolves faster than humans did, and say in 1000 years they attack us and eat us?

[Ms. B. Havin]

I don't know... I think rennthefinn has something there. Freeman Dyson would be intrigued, I'm sure...! (disclaimer: I like a lot of Dyson's work -- warm-blooded plants, for eg. Sounds good to me! ...But yeah, some of his ideas are as ...inventive?, shall we say? as sending poop to Mars!)

[renthefinn]

^^Well we shall have hundreds of years to observe them and know their every move!

[ressen]

That is how life formed on earth no doubt. An advanced civilization somewhere sent their crap to earth.

[Mike K.]

Well, with a ring of garbage already around the earth we might as well chuck the rest of our junk into orbit. I'm sure there's a way of attaching a couple of BFI bins to the sides of rockets already heading into space to test the reactions of snails at zero gravity.

[Ben Smith]

Hey guys,

Rather interesting article, heres the link:

http://www.canada.co... ... 15&k=72161

Discuss!

[Mike K.]

No surprise there. Macauley Point is one of the focal points. What a wonderful use of untapped waterfront in the urban core of the region, hey?

I realize this is a long shot, but why can't a treatment plant be built in Central Saanich on the airport's grounds? Are there logistical problems to doing something like that?

Gotta love the choices presented by the report :

The report lists three options:

1. Have just two plants at Macaulay and Clover points. But usable land there is limited.

2. Keep option one and add two more plants -- one in Saanich East to produce "high quality" reusable water, and one in West Shore either near Royal Roads or Albert Head to accommodate that region's growing population.

3. Keep both options and add a fifth plant in Langford, which would use advanced technology to recover reusable resources, such as water.

[m0nkyman]

I realize this is a long shot, but why can't a treatment plant be built in Central Saanich on the airport's grounds? Are there logistical problems to doing something like that?

Saanich inlet doesn't flush properly, so it can't be used... Even if it was pure water we were dumping, it would reduce the salinity.... change it....

[Ben Smith]

Hey!

Don't build it on the airport grounds!

I think Saanich should put money into the airport because it could be a gold mine for the city.

Our problem isn't runway size. We need more terminals for the runway.

I think were we would need a Waste treament plant is out in Oak Bay where they flush straight to open ocean...and it washes back to them.

[Mike K.]

What do you mean by "we need more terminals for the runway?"

[Ben Smith]

We need more terminals for the airport***...

Our airport could be much, much better!

[Mike K.]

Oh ok! Yeah I see what you mean.

Actually I don't mind the new one. Compared to what we had several years ago the new terminal expansion is a great step in the right direction. I remember reading somewhere that the current terminal should suffice until approximately 2015 to 2020 when traffic reaches beyond 2 million passengers a year. It's currently at 1.4 million.

What we do need are more direct flights from the airport and not an almost complete reliance on Vancouver or Seattle.

Ok, back on topic...

[rayne_k]

I realize this is a long shot, but why can't a treatment plant be built in Central Saanich on the airport's grounds? Are there logistical problems to doing something like that?

Saanich inlet doesn't flush properly, so it can't be used... Even if it was pure water we were dumping, it would reduce the salinity.... change it....

Plus North Saanich already has a Sewage Treatment plant near the corner of Bazan Bay Road and the Pat Bay highway (2.5 kms or so south from the aiport). It handles Sidney, North Saanich and Central Saanich (unsure about the latter ).

[Mike K.]

It already has a plant? So if that's the case then why not make it large enough to sustain a greater population?