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07/01/2008: "#1 - Open Questions To Candidates"
The Island Guardian is sponsoring weekly questions to the county council candidates, and will publish their responses; and responses of the voters to their answers.
”As a Town or a County Council member, what, if anything, will you do to influence the government of B.C to stop the release of raw sewage?”
Responses follow (listed in the order they were submitted)
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This dumping of raw sewage into our shared waters is a major environmental disaster that has been allowed to go on far too long. Finally, we hope, there is some relief in sight. The last time I spoke with a member of the Victoria Council, I was told that the Victoria Municipal Government had mandated a treatment plant for Victoria's sewage. The plant, I'm also told, will be on line in approximately one year or less.
As a Council member, I will monitor the progress of this plant, and maintain contact with my Victoria contact for updates on construction. - Alan Lichter
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As you well know, this is a huge problem that has plagued the islands for over 30 years. Those of us involved at the local level during this time have wrung our hands at the seeming intractability of the Canadians at solving this problem. Each day 31 million gallons of raw sewage are discharged into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, enough effluent to fill 40,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools in a year. This has been a problem since the 1970’s. In 1993 The BC Premier and Washington’s Governor, Mike Lowry set 2008 as a “target” date for treatment, this has been largely ignored. The Straits are an international waterway, and salmon runs spawn in both countries.
Well, finally, this year a 9 Million dollar ( Canadian) appropriation has found it’s way into the British Columbia budget. Meant to be a down payment toward treatment of sewage from Victoria and its surrounding cities. B.C, Premier Gordon Campbell pledged that “ these funds…are a commitment to stopping pollution from Victoria’s sewage.” This gives us some hope. Let’s hold them to it. Obviously the Canadians have dragged their heels on this. Perhaps things are changing to the north, where the Premier promises the “greenest” Olympics in history, and 7 years of government that has ignored the environment are making a change, a change they say is based on “scientific study and potential political humiliation.”
The Suierra Legal Defense Fund continues to give Victoria a grade “F” for its waste water dumping and stonewalling of treatment. Recently, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner has pressured the Capital Regional District (responsible for sewage treatment) to get on with it. This is encouraging, and local jurisdictions should demand Minister Penner and others “get on with it”. International humiliation may help this problem. With the upcoming Olympics, perhaps more than letters and regional meetings, What about a local flotilla, perhaps 100’s of boats, or more, on opening day of the Olympics out in their waters, near their outflow pipes, protesting? I’m certainly in favor of continuing efforts to hold the Canadians to this new “promise”, with vocal attention paid to this deplorable situation with an emphasis on what bad neighbors they have been. - Bruce R. Orchid
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It truly is amazing to me the plethora of information to be found on the internet. You can look for hours and find information about Victoria’s community sewer issues. In my search I have found this to be a very tough question and one that is a bit stinky. But most importantly what could I do as a council member to influence British Columbia with their waste?
Online I found a lot of great stuff -some of it was detailed and dirty while some was pulling the rug over the “mess”. It turns out that Canada as a whole does not have a nationwide plan or guideline to deal with sewage. It is up to each individual community to take care of their waste. Some municipalities like Whistler B.C get an A+, while others like Montreal have an F and are dumping raw sewage into the St Lawrence River.
For us that were unaware, there are three categories to treatment:
• Primary: reduces some solids through a settling process.
• Secondary: further reduces solids and other pollutants.
• Tertiary (pronounced tershiary): which is the most stringent of them all.
I could not get a definitive classification for Victoria, but my conclusion was that they are not yet even in the Primary category although they do screen out solids.
Victoria is defiantly taking the stink by trying to get by with little or nothing, however, the heat is on. Other municipalities are making changes, and that is making Victoria look bad. This may be just what is needed for them to get off the pot. With the Olympic Games in 2010 there is some pressure for Victoria to step up to the mess they have made. What I found is they actually have a request from the minister of the CRD (Capital Regional District) to submit a business plan no later than June 30, 2008, along with a request for a liquid waste management plan amendment on or before December 31, 2008. You can see their web site: www.wastewatermadeclear.ca
There are organizations that are working hard to get the word out and educate everyone. The Victoria Sewage Alliance and Environment Canada can be found online with facts and figures. The Federal Government in 2006 was prepared to contribute 1/3 of the approximate cost to install a treatment facility, 400-500 million. Is this offer still available? I don’t know.
It appears to me that Victoria and it’s community know that they have issues that need to be addressed. If we can concentrate our efforts to set a good example with our sewer treatment and attention to shoreline stability, offer support to the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection in the form of a letter from the County Council, and encourage others to do the same, I think it would be a friendly step in the direction of clean water. - Lisa Guard
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As a SJC Council Member, I would track the progress and advance citizen opinion to higher government authorities. It is my understanding, after researching the topic, that the City of Victoria is currently addressing the situation by planning a sewage treatment facility. An international issue that impacts all of Puget Sound is and should be addressed by Washington State and Federal agencies. There are a number of environmental protection groups that are also addressing this issue: Puget Sound Action Team, Poop Victoria, and the Victoria Sewage Alliance, to name a few.
It is important for governing bodies to concentrate energy and resources on issues that they have the authority to impact. -Mindy Kayl
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This was an important subject in the 1980’s when I worked with orca researchers who were concerned that the area around Race Rocks, favored by the whales, was near the Victoria outfalls. Protests went nowhere. The twin outfalls currently discharge 33.5 million gallons per day. This has long been a major embarrassment to the Islands Trust, the BC governing group, with which the County Council has a Trans Border Agreement to work together on these issues. Their pleas have also gone nowhere -until recently.
Victoria didn’t want to pay the high cost. In 2006 the BC Provincial government agreed to provide funding. Land for the facility has recently been obtained, and Victoria is supposed to present a plan to the Province by June 30.
I hope, and it looks like, this is now on course for solution. There may not be anything we can do to make it happen any faster. It might be good to send a letter to both jurisdictions thanking them on finally taking action. Let’s see what the June 30 plan proposes. -Howard Howie Rosenfeld
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There’s nothing that chaps my hide more than taking kids to the beach and having one of them pick up and handle a used condom or a plastic tampon applicator that has been flushed down a Canadian toilet. Disgusting! Anyone can find this stuff on our beautiful San Juan Island beaches. It really irks me to see this stuff and realize how easily this offensive pollution could be stopped.
Since I don’t have all the answers I think we all need to pool our resources on this because this BC sewage problem is the proverbial “elephant in our living room”. I don’t see this as a competition for whose got the best answer. It gives each of us a chance to put forward solutions that are all good and work together to help solve this stinking problem.
That being said I think we need to shine the national media spotlight on Victoria BC. There is obviously much more talent out there than I have at making videos, but this is my little attempt to draw attention to the problem and apply economic pressure on the residents and leaders in Victoria. Go to this link to view my response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8uO1RED2Is
If you want to help draw attention to this problem forward this link to your friends! Thanks for watching, - Gordy Petersen
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This is a topic that is absolutely worthy of the time and efforts of the San Juan County Council. San Juan County’s protection standards have proved effective to keep the waters around our islands clean and healthy for the marine habitat. In time, however, the release of raw sewage into these waters by the City of Victoria could well have a highly negative effect on the condition of our surrounding marine environment.
Although it has been well publicized within San Juan County, citizens of Victoria may be less aware than we are of this situation. Notice to those citizens, using every outlet at our disposal, encouragng them to write or speak to their government to change this practice, may be effective. Certainly a dialogue between our two governing bodies should be ongoing and continuing until a change is effected.
As a County Council member, this is an issue that I will pursue, to the benefit of residents of both the Town of Friday Harbor and San Juan County. -Fay Chaffee
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To stop the release of raw sewage into the marine waters of British Columbia, it is my understanding that Capital Regional District (CRD) is required to provide the Minister of Environment with an implementation plan by the end of 2008, that construction of the sewage treatment facilities is scheduled to start 2010-2011, and will be completed by the end of 2016. (Core Area Wastewater Management Program 6-12-08 report to Minister of Environment: http://www.wastewatermadeclear.ca/documents/lwmr-june2008.pdf)
CRD is working to ensure that the wastewater treatment facilities are built to meet the long-term needs of the region (over the next 60 years, the population of the Core Area of the CRD [which includes the seven municipalities of Colwood, Esquimalt, Langford, Oak Bay, Saanich, Victoria and View Royal] is anticipated to nearly double to 600,000 residents). In addition, the sewage treatment facilities will include the integration of solid and liquid waste treatment with heat and electric energy recoveries and greenhouse gas reductions. (Resources from Waste report: http://www.georgiastrait.org/files/share/PDF/IRM_report.pdf)
I was also interested to learn about CRD’s Regional Source Control Program (http://www.crd.bc.ca/wastewater/sourcecontrol/index.htm), a pollution prevention initiative aimed at reducing the amount of contaminants that industry, businesses, institutions, and households discharge into sewer systems. The program is focused on reducing or eliminating contaminants before they enter the sewer system rather than treating them after they have been mixed with other wastes. If elected, I would investigate whether the integration of solid and liquid waste treatment with heat and electric energy recoveries and greenhouse gas reductions and/or a source control program would be appropriate to implement here in San Juan County.
Given that letters from the San Juan County Council to another country would have limited influence, if elected, I would focus my efforts on addressing the health and well-being of our immediate marine eco-system. However, if elected, I would initiate a letter from the San Juan County Council to the Minister of Environment and other appropriate officials in British Columbia stating that it is imperative that raw sewage not be dumped into ‘our backyard’ and to state support for the CRD implementation plan and timeline, as well as the integration of solid and liquid waste treatment with heat and electric energy recoveries and greenhouse gas reductions. I would also encourage the marine scientists and other relevant experts in our community to speak out on this issue.
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As a Town or a County Council member, what, if anything, will you do to influence the government of B.C to stop the release of raw sewage.?
I am personally distressed that the government of BC continues its flagrant practice of discharging raw Canadian sewage into Puget Sound. This unsound environmental practice must stop. As citizens of San Juan County, council members included, we must voice our concerns and continue to do so loudly at every opportunity.
As frustrating as the situation is, our county council is not entrusted with making policy decisions for the BC government. Our energies as a council would be best spent dealing with policy issues over which we do have control. -Richard Fralick
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As a county council member I will work with the mayor's office in Vancouver and Victoria on this issue. I called the mayors office in Vancouver and was told that Vancouver has a very good treatment center and does not pump any waste into the sound but Victoria is a different story.
I was informed by the mayors office in Vancouver that since some changes have occurred in the federal government and since there is money currently available at the Provincial level for a new treatment center in Victoria, that Victoria is getting more interested in building a new waste treatment center. I was also told that San Diego CA Currently pumps waste into the their waterway and that the scientific jury is still out about if this is a problem or not. So if I am elected I will work with both mayors office's on this problem and invite them down to a discussion about this issue at perhaps the community center here on San Juan island, of course they may not be interested, but they might. -Daniel Miller
