A councillor’s motion sparked a lengthy debate here last week about the feasibility of smaller sewage treatment plants in both Hillsburgh and Erin.
Erin councillor Matt Sammut brought forward the motion at the May 2 meeting, asking why the concept of two smaller plants has not been pursued.
The current option being considered is a treatment plant south of Erin village, connected to Hillsburgh by sewer force main.
“I totally respect our engineers and council for their opinion, but I think it’s something that can’t be ignored because we’re making a decision for the long-term of the Town of Erin,” Sammut said.
Sammut asked that the economic viability of the two plants be analyzed. He also asked for a report on the feasibility of this option, along with comments, from Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC).
In his motion, Sammut stated the MOECC and CVC have “never been asked to look at this option.”
Yet Mayor Allan Alls said the topic has come up at technical meetings.
“Both those agencies are the type of agencies where they’ll never give you a definite yes or no, until you’ve spent all the money and proven all the things,” said Alls.
“To go that route is going to cost a lot of money.”
Alls said he didn’t think two smaller plants would be economically viable due to the long-term operating costs of a treatment plant.
Christine Furlong of Triton Engineering and Gary Scott of Ainley and Associates Limited were invited to the meeting to answer questions from council.
“With respect to the MOECC and CVC never reviewing a specific option for a discharge in Hillsburgh, they have not,” said Furlong.
“But the reason for that is all the background studies that were done by the CVC in 2010 … that looked at all the environmental components, river, wetlands, and all that kind of thing … that report essentially said going through Hillsburgh is not a good idea.”
Furlong explained the river loses 57% of its flow from upstream to downstream Hillsburgh, adding the concentrations of nitrate and phosphorous in Hillsburgh are significantly higher compared to downstream of Erin village.
“You cannot impair the water quality any more than what it is,” she said.
“If you were to dump anything into the river in and around Hillsburgh from a sewage treatment plant you would be further impairing the river and that’s not acceptable.”
Furlong added there is a highly productive brook trout spawning area in the Hillsburgh river that could be impacted by discharge from a sewage treatment plant.
“Essentially the CVC and the MOECC, back through the SSMP process and going through all this background information said, ‘Your best chance for success for a surface water discharge is downstream of Erin village,’” she said.
Sammut said there is potential to clean up the river through treatment.
“We know the water is, for lack of a better word, dirtier up in Hillsburgh, but it’s arguable that once we service that community, it’s going to be much less dirtier,” he said.
Furlong said the contributing factor to poor water quality is surface run off from farming.
“There is no guarantee that putting a plant in place is going to clean up the river,” she said.
Furlong said given the current conditions of the river, the townwill have to use the best available technology.
She added if the town wanted to discharge in Hillsburgh, another assimilative capacity study would need to be completed at an estimated cost of $200,000.
Furlong added the cost of a force main is estimated at $4 million, while an additional sewage treatment plant in Hillsburgh would cost about $20 million.
Alls said council was straying from the process.
“Every moment we stray from it, it’s going to delay us longer and cost us more money,” he said.
Scott suggested that Ainley put together a report on the feasibility, but argued seeking comments from the CVC and MOECC would take time.
He added Ainley is about three months behind schedule waiting for CVC comments on a previous report on subsurface discharge.
“We’re really at a critical point. We’re falling behind schedule,” said Scott.
However, Sammut said council should not rush to a conclusion.
“Fiscal responsibility means you can’t eliminate an option that might be much more fiscally palatable to this community,” he said.
“I don’t care if it goes to the next council, personally. I want this decision to be right for this community for the next 100 years.
“It’s not about getting this done a year from now, this is about doing it right.”
Council approved the motion to seek a report on the feasibility of the two plants and seek agency comments.
Mayor seeking
provincial funding
Alls spoke later in the council meeting about a recent visit at Queen’s Park with Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott and Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones.
With their assistance, Alls set up a meeting with Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli planned for May 15.
Alls said he would be presenting a request for creative funding partnerships, including one-third funding from the federal and provincial governments.
“Let’s say we can get a third from them, a third from the feds, and our third would be made up of ourselves and every developer in town that wants to develop. I can see this all becoming financially viable,” said Alls.
