More Sewage Talk

Before I delve into today's topic I'll just address my last post. It was quite fortuitous in regard to my mention of Judy Brownoff. I complained about the lack of community engagement on the topic of sewage treatment, and lo and behold Councilor Judy Brownoff comes to our classroom asking for input on ways to get the community involved on that very issue. My wish came true! It seems that Councilor Brownoff, the chair of the Sewage Committee is keen to get as many members of the public involved as necessary. That's brings me to my topic for the day.

In passing, Judy Brownoff mentioned that the Town of Colwood is potentially looking at leaving the group of core municipalities to address the issues of sewage treatment independently. I looked into this and found an article with statements from the Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders and CRD CAO, Kelly Daniels. It appears that Saunders is keen on opting out of the multi-billion dollar project in hopes that he can find something cheaper for his taxpayers. While fundamentally I agree with the idea of reducing costs to tax-payers, there are other issues that need to be looked at before decisions like this should be made.

While Saunders was explicit about his intent for private sewage treatment separate from the CRD he failed to mention the details of the opt out process. Daniels at the CRD states that "it's extremely rare for a municipality to opt out of a regional service, and it typically results in a long and expensive review and arbitration process". He goes further to say that though separation is possibility they may still be held responsible for costs of the CRD sewage treatment project.

This is a great example of the need for education and public involvement in these processes. The Mayor of Colwood received votes on his platform for private sewage treatment by appealing to the residents pocket book. This is the simplest method of acheiveing support while avoiding public education on the issue (McKenize-Mohr, 1999).

I think that if Judy Brownoff's education campaign and public committees could take flight before this issues comes to a head, the residents of Colwood may realize the detriment of a decision like this. Not only would it cost time and money in arbitration, but the outcome of avoiding costs is not definite.

My two cents on the issue is that as a larger community (all core municipalities), we can come to a conclusion that will benefit all parties through education, research and collaboration.

Works Cited
McKenzie- Mohr, D. (1999). Fostering Sustainable Behaviour. New Society Publishing. Gabriola Island, BC.