Another Point of Clarification! (Sewage Treatment)

Under the topic of 'Sewage Treatment', Lantzville's Mayor, Colin Haime says that "It is interesting to note how some people think when you say that you automatically mean connecting to (sic) treatment plant in Nanaimo. I have never said that. Council has never said that" (Colin's Comments #2 - Sept. 6/05).

The sewer grant application (Project Name: Sanitary Sewer Collection System), which the District has submitted to the provincial government to help pay for bringing collector sewers to 750 homes/businesses in the 'central' part of Lantzville, contains the following statements: "The system will eventually tie into the the existing RDN foreshore interceptor located at the foot of Shook (sic) Road." "The sewage can then be conveyed directly to the Greater Nanaimo WPCC where it will be treated before being released into the environment" (note: this facility is only an 'enhanced' primary treatment plant).

Now Mayor Haime would have you believe that this is just 'words' for the purposes of the application, since the province needed to be reassured that the collected sewage would be treated somewhere. What, then, are we to make of the following statements, also from the application? "Previous studies have concluded that the construction of an independent treatment plant and outfall to serve the Lantzville area would be too expensive." "It is also worth noting that the existing RDN interceptor and Greater Nanaimo WPCC were built with enough capacity to service the Lantzville area." Doesn't appear to leave much room to "investigate further options of... sewage treatment and disposal", in my opinion.
One of the investors in the Foothills project also told me directly that "Lantzville would be crazy" not to connect to the Nanaimo plant. Developers are all about minimizing risk to maximize profit potential whereas we, the public, may have other concerns/priorities.

Councillor Warren Griffey, in his campaign flyer, writes "(w)e have made great strides with the City of Nanaimo... cooperating on issues of water and sewer" and still Lantzville isn't going to the GNWPCC?! Also, if we do become serviced by both Nanaimo water and the Hammond Bay primary treatment plant, how long do you think the provincial government will allow us to remain separate in name only?

BTW, Mayor Haime, a Chartered Accountant, told me that he wrote the 'Topic of the Week' piece of 'Sewer vs. Septic Tanks' for the District's website (www.lantzville.ca), where he selectively extracted pieces, none of which dealt with the pros/cons of the first part of the stated topic, out of various reports.

Hans J. Larsen
Candidate for Lantzville council