POWELL RIVER, B.C.- After almost 20 years of talks and planning, the location of the new wastewater treatment plant in Powell River has been approved.
At its Feb. 15th meeting, council approved the site, two 10-acre parcels of land below Laburnum Avenue and Larch Avenue. The land was purchased by the city in 2016.
The approval from council means that the project will be able to meet federal and provincial environmental regulations by 2020. Staff can now move on in creating a final plan to submit for provincial and federal infrastructure grants in the spring.
There had been talks of an alternate location being selected, with a particular push from the Townsite Ratepayers Association.
However, council decided that having studies done on an alternate location would slow down the process and potentially jeopardize funding opportunities.
Staff could miss the spring grant funding deadline had they chosen to study other location options.
The plant will be the largest infrastructure project in Powell River’s history, and is estimated to cost $30 million.
Once it’s completed, it will treat sewage from the Tla’amin Nation, Townsite, Wildwood and Westview.
Council has also approved the technological process for the plant, a “High Efficiency Biological Treatment Process”. This process will take the raw sewage and covert it into wastewater, and move it to an outfall in the Georgia Strait.
