by Barrie Bookout Rejection of City of Powell River’s Innovations Fund application to the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM), for partially funding the co-treatment plan with Catalyst Paper Corporation, makes this an ideal time to rethink the best options for improving the treatment quality of the city’s waste water and bringing our systems into compliance.
A constructed wetland is a natural solution to explore. This technology is time-tested, effective, and inexpensive to install compared to conventional treatment plants. It has lower operating costs and a comparable or longer lifetime than conventional treatment plants. It is a superb tertiary treatment system. It may also be applied as a quaternary system, to “polish” outflow which is only marginally and/or occasionally out of limits from existing facilities. It lends itself well to distributed sites, so maximum reuse of existing facilities is encouraged. Combined with upgraded membranes in the Westview facility, it could easily provide the highest quality effluent of any community in BC.
It is truly an innovative, environmentally friendly, and forward-thinking approach, so grant funding may well be available. If constructed wetlands replace any part of the current tertiary treatment systems, there will be ongoing savings in energy, maintenance, and other operating costs.
In addition to saving money as compared to a conventional plant, a wetland system would stimulate the local economy. A significant portion of the construction cost of a wetland is the excavation, which can be locally contracted, thus inserting that money into the local economy instead of exporting it to outside contractors. Installation labour (for liners, planting, et cetera) could also be hired locally, further increasing the economic benefit to the community.
The constructed wetland has a positive ecological footprint. In addition to conventionally removed materials, a wetland system removes heavy metals, and breaks down pharmaceutical and herbicide/pesticide residues, which are not affected by conventional treatment systems, and which have a significant negative effect on sensitive marine ecosystems, such as that of the Strait of Georgia. Furthermore, a wetland is aesthetically appealing, serves as a valuable wildlife habitat and green space, and even has some tourism potential.
A constructed wetland LWMP (liquid waste management plan) would demonstrate commitment to the city’s Sustainability Charter in a tangible way. The wetland itself is a sustainable, natural, effective, and low-cost solution. The outfall from a constructed wetland system is suitable for reuse as irrigation water for local food production, leading to real, practical, and inexpensive sustainability enhancement. Water is not the only recoverable resource from our waste stream—an integrated systems approach to recycling biosolids could yield even more benefits to the community and environment.
In order to investigate the feasibility of this option, we should consult experts with experience in successful engineered wetland design, construction and operation. A small investment in the time and cost of a constructed wetland feasibility study could pay off for many decades to come.
By adopting such a progressive and innovative approach, Powell River would develop a model solution which could be emulated by other communities, and enhance its reputation as the “Pearl of the Sunshine Coast.”
Barry Bookout is a physics and mathematic instructor in a Transfer Engineering program. His family moved to the Powell River area three years ago.
