Metro Vancouver Waste Water Treatment (Sewage)

Dear Editor:

We are writing to voice our concerns regarding the New Lions Gate Waste Water Treatment Plant and the fact that it is only being built to treat sewage to a secondary treatment level, rather than tertiary treatment. This is legal, but below the standard of treatment of most other cities. If Metro Vancouver treated our sewage to a similar level as Toronto, it would reduce the pollutants dumped into the Salish Sea by approximately 30 million kilograms per year. Metro can use low levels of treatment because the Salish Sea has been classified by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as at a lower risk from pollutants than the Great Lakes. 

 Is the Salish Sea less valuable than the Great Lakes? Many in British Columbia would not agree with this classification. The sewage effluent is full of toxins, detrimental to marine life and humans. Cumulative effects and bio-accumulation up the food chain is a grave concern. The lower standard of treatment means, that twice per day, from a large pipe near Lions Gate Bridge, pollutants are flushed into the Salish Sea. Out of sight, therefore out of mind to most people. Also, there is a reason the Iona Plant needs a 2 km long causeway to discharge sewage.

 The decision to go with a lower level of treatment was based on saving the tax payers money. This is both short sighted and false economy. Proven technology is available that would protect our waters. We believe that if the public was fully informed of the environmental and health implications of the decision to build the plant to the lowest possible standard, the taxpayer would want it built to the same standards as other cities. Again, is the Salish Sea less important than the Great Lakes or other waters in Canada.