Not all need to be removed
Letter by Bruce Lemire-Elmore to the Sooke News Mirror October 8, 2003
Editor:
I admire the generosity and environmental concern of Ken Pungente, who has stated his willingness to contribute to tertiary treatment for Sooke's proposed sewer plant. He has always shown himself to be a public-spirited citizen.
But before he puts up earnest money, he would do well to ask himself just which particular contaminants he is concerned about.
The independent Forgie report confirmed what had been stated in the Stantec proposal: that the proposed secondary treatment plus UV disinfection will result in concentrations of each of sewage contaminants at the point of critical measurement (the "initial dilution zone") lower than what occurs naturally in our seawater. And so, putting the effluent through tertiary treatment would be equivalent to drawing up seawater into the treatment plant, treating it, then putting it back into the ocean. Some might consider this a valuable way to "clean up the ocean", but to me it seems to be gilding the lily.
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