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HAWKESBURY – The town of Hawkesbury has opted for a $35 million solution to its sewage problems while continuing to blame the Ontario government for its predicament.
Town council has chosen a $34,867,560 alternative to expand the Main Street facility, which the municipality maintains was defective when the government transferred the plant to the town in the 1990s.
In May, the town was fined $12,500 after admitting that the plant had not met provincial standards between May, 2005 and November, 2006. Since then, improvements have been made, however, this spring and summer, the plant did not meet provincial standards. Because of the plant’s limited capacity, untreated waste still occasionally enters the Ottawa River.
“You are still bypassing raw sewage into the river,” stressed Rick Eamon, a vice-president with Thompson-Rosemount Group, the engineering firm hired to help the town solve its sewage woes.
Under conventional cost-sharing deals with the federal and provincial governments, municipalities are expected to pay one-third of approved costs. But Hawkesbury figures that the governments should pay 90 per cent of the bill.
Eamon believes the municipality would have a sound argument. “When you took over the plant it should have had that biosolids capacity,” he told council Monday night.
“This is something that should be brought up when we make our application,” said Councillor Gilles Roch Greffe.
Mayor Jeanne Charlebois added that the message to the government will be: “You gave us something that was broken.”
According to TRG estimates, providing the required the necessary biosolids capacity could cost between $12 million and $15 million.“I expect to get 90 per cent in government funding and nothing less,” commented Councillor Gilles Tessier.
Councillor Michel Beaulne was more ambitious, stating, “The government should pay at least 100 per cent.” Charlebois suggested that the municipality not be over-aggressive in its funding request. “I will take whatever we can get. We don’t have time to fight,” the mayor said. But Eamon recommended that the town include its argument for 90 per cent funding in its business case. “You have a very strong position,” he told council.
The government built the facility in 1971 and transferred the Main Street plant to the municipality in 1994.
A public meeting will be held October 7 at 6 p.m. at the town hall to provide taxpayers information on the preferred course of action.“Time is of the essence and it is a luxury we don’t have,” commented Charlebois.
Councillor Gilbert Cyr opposed council’s decision to move forward with the funding application, contending that there were not enough financial details available. “I could not vote for that when I didn’t know what impact this will have on the next budget,” he said.
If all goes as planned, tenders will be called by January, 2010, construction will begin in the spring of 2010 and the new facility, which will have a 20-year life span, will be ready by the end of 2011.
In the meantime, the facility could handle another 270 homes, related Eamon, noting that the province could block any major new developments.
When the system was designed in the 1970s, it was considered to be a state of the art facility. But the plant cannot meet today’s stricter regulations. At the same time, the concentration of pollutants has increased.
An investment of $6.8 million in the plant in 2006 did not resolve all of the station’s defects.
by richard.mahoney@eap.on.ca