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Think carefully about sewage proposals
by Dana LeCompte
to the Sooke News Mirror, March 28, 2001
After our city council decided to inform us residents of its plans for an outfall at its official open house I was left feeling uncomfortable about several points.
During the meeting, several citizens tried to ascertain what the estimated cost of the sewage outfall would be to them. They were told repeatedly that this information was unavailable. I find it hard to believe that after six months of study and on the eve of submitting a proposal for a $24 million infrastructure grant for just this purpose, that council could not even make an educated guess.
To my surprise, less than one day later, council released an estimate cost of $7,000-$8,000 per residential lot. This number is based on the fact that council will receive the full $24 million it has asked for. This cost is not optional for the people of Sooke, whether you hook up or not, you will have to pay these costs.
If you do decide to hook up, you may want to allow for another $3,000 to dig a trench and lay pipe to the actual hook up, as well as the additional cost of deactivating your current system, not to mention any amounts payable for upgrading the system or amounts not covered by the grant. Remember, this is only an estimate.
If this is not enough to make the residents of Sooke dubious of wanting to participate in such a process, there is the environmental factor to consider. Council feels that we are cleaning up our environment by putting in an outfall. The outfall will not reduce pollution from marinas, industrial waterfront businesses, farms, and natural sources in Sooke Basin, but council feels that our basin and streams will now be pristine.
Dumping our sewage into the Juan de Fuca Strait will further jeopardize our west coast beaches. Just ask the residents of Vancouver where Wreck Beach, Jericho Beach, and Spanish Banks are shut down intermittently every year because of current distribution bringing high fecal coliform counts onshore from Annacis Island and other outfalls.
I urge everyone to think carefully about what is going on here. There are many long term ramifications to putting in an outfall. Higher taxes, our health, pollution to our environment, and a poor environmental image to our visitors are only a few.
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