In an effort to keep everyone up to date and to avoid unnecessary rumours, I am providing the latest information that I have received from the CSRD operations department. I presented a brief overview in the last Discovery Islander with more to follow in my usual Report. However, this information came in between deadlines and I would like to get it out there for people to see first hand, straight from Graeme Faris of the CSRD.

The regional district has begun preparing cost estimates for an advanced secondary sewerage system to serve approximately 220 parcels of land within and around Heriot Bay on Quadra Island. The system will serve approximately 400 people and will discharge up to 450 cubic metres per day of treated wastewater to a marine outfall located 20 metres below sea level east of Rebecca Spit. The proposed UV disinfected effluent will meet discharge standards normally required of tertiary treatment plants located in sensitive eco-systems such as Okanogan Lake.

Preliminary costs for the system stand at $7,600,000 as a result of construction constraints that include deep excavations in rock, DFO foreshore requirement, the need to import most construction materials from off-island and the challenges of locating the sewer collection system. Costs per property served have been calculated with and without senior government grants. The table below presents these costs. Annual operating and maintenance costs would be over and above these costs as would the cost of construction on the homeowner’s property to connect to the sewerage system.

Current estimated costs (two scenarios)
Cost / lot without grants
One time payment $34,529
Annual Property Tax (20 yrs) $3,280

Cost / lot with grants
One time payment $11,509
Annual Property Tax (20 yrs) $1,093

Next steps include additional work to fine tune and finalize costs and to allocate them, an environmental impact study with respect to the discharge of treated effluent, defining the final service area boundary, developing and delivering a communication plan to ensure that area residents have ample opportunity to comment on the plan as it develops and finally, seeking authorization from the affected residents to establish the service through either a petition or referendum process.

Interested persons can review the presentation given on the evening of January 23, 2008 at the Community Centre by visiting www.rdcs.bc.ca and selecting the tabs for "Operational Services" then "Liquid Waste" then "Heriot Bay"