July 25, 2012

Governments promise funding for Victoria treatment system

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

The construction of a wastewater treatment system in Greater Victoria, B.C. is a bit closer to reality after the federal and provincial governments promised hundreds of millions in funding.

However, local construction leaders are still taking a cautiously optimistic approach to the project.

“When we were looking at the procurement model a couple of years ago, our main concern was if they did the whole project as a P3, it would restrict any regional involvement,” said Greg Baynton, president of the Vancouver Island Construction Association.

“A lot of members built the existing infrastructure and we think the project could easily be broken down into more than one contract, so the regional construction industry could participate. A construction manager could be used to co-ordinate the whole project, put out different bid packages and open up the process to competition.”

The new system will be called the Core Area Wastewater Treatment Program.

The $782.7 million capital project involves the construction of the McLoughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant and Marine Outfall, a Biosolids Energy Centre (BEC) and Conveyance System Upgrades.

The project will use a hybrid procurement model, which combines a public-private partnership (P3) approach for biosolids treatment, as well as the design and build method for the other components.

Even though federal and provincial governments are proposing to contribute $253.4 million and $248 million respectively, the project’s future is still uncertain.

“Some people have questioned whether or not this project will really happen, but we believe that it will and the local construction industry really wants to be part of it,” said Baynton.

The provincial contribution for the treatment plant and associated infrastructure has cabinet approval, but federal funding is conditional on Treasury Board approval and the signing of the contribution agreements. The project must also meet the terms and conditions of federal infrastructure programs and comply with legal obligations, including those related to aboriginal consultation and environmental assessment.

The Capital Regional District (CRD) will provide the balance of the funding for the project, which is estimated at close to $281.3 million.

The CRD considers the biosolids treatment facilities to be outside its core utility services, so the private sector will be asked to design, build, operate and finance it for 25 years.

The BEC meets the terms and conditions of the P3 Canada Fund.

It will treat organic solid waste generated by the treatment processes at the McLoughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant, to produce biogas. This project includes the associated conveyance infrastructure to transport the solid waste.

The CRD will use a design and build approach for the facilities that will treat current sewage flows at McLoughlin Point, before it is discharged through the new marine outfall. The plant will be owned and operated by the CRD, which has expertise in operating wastewater treatment plants. The provincial government stated that the CRD must have secondary sewage treatment in place by 2016.

The existing wastewater conveyance system will be upgraded to enable the treatment of municipal sewage at the McLoughlin Wastewater Treatment Plant.

In addition to capacity and energy efficiency upgrades to several existing pump stations, wet-weather attenuation tanks will be installed in Saanich East to help manage increased sewage flows.

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