It’s not only town officials who are eagerly awaiting the completion of secondary treatment and added capacity for the town’s liquid waste treatment plant.
Kathleen Nicholls, plant manager at Limberis Seafood Processing based in Ladysmith, said they harvest clams from the Holland Bank area and when the rainfall starts, they have their fingers crossed. Heavy rains overload the water system which can close their lease for three weeks. After those three weeks they are finally allowed to send samples in for testing.
“But if the samples are still not at acceptable levels, then it stays closed until they are.”
“When there’s rain predicted in the fall we are crossing our fingers and hoping for the best,” she said.
The problem for Limberis is two-fold since their Holland Bank lease is the one they rely on in the fall — when it is at its most vulnerable from the increased rainfall.
The new system would eliminate the problem for Limberis.
“It has the capacity to hold all the extra runoff.”
All the clams that are harvested are put through Limberis’ depuration process.
Oysters can still not be harvested from the harbour she said, noting an overhaul of the harbour would be needed before Ladysmith oysters would, if at all, be able to be harvested.
