A move to allow the City of Enderby to dispose of a maximum 15 tonnes per week of dewatered sludge from its wastewater treatment plant at the Greater Vernon Recycling and Disposal facility has left a sour taste with at least one regional district director.
BX-Silver Star director Mike Macnabb was opposed to one part of the four-part plan, which was the $42.50/tonne disposal fee.
“It’s woefully inadequate,” said Macnabb. “Anybody who has ever handled the stuff will recognize our regional landfill is not cut out to do it. The disposal fee is ridiculously little in comparison to the work that it’s going to create for the regional district landfill staff.”
Regional District of North Okanagan directors were asked to vote on the recommendation to allow Enderby to dispose of 15 tonnes per week at the Greater Vernon facility for a maximum six months while it explores other options for its own treatment plant.
The recommendation called for disposal to be permitted only after receiving written authorization from the Ministry of Environment for RDNO to accept liquid or semi-solid waste including sewage treatment plant sludge at the Greater Vernon facility.
It would be for six months, at a cost of $42.50/tonne, which is 50 per cent of the new refuse disposal rates established for 2011, and disposal would only be allowed after an agreement outlining terms and condition of disposal is signed by Enderby and the regional district.
“I’d recommend looking at other disposal methods,” said Macnabb, whose motion to up the fee from $42.50 to $155/tonne was not seconded and, therefore, defeated. “We are taking away from our landfill its normal process and putting other things into it that requires more work to be done.”
Enderby Mayor Dee Wejr said the recommendation, which passed with only Macnabb opposed, is a short-term solution only.
“This is to ask, at the most, for six months while we finish tweaking the upgrades we’ve done and start getting our dewatering under control,” said Wejr.
One of the options Enderby will explore is disposing the sludge on a farm.
“There’s a certain amount of information we have to have on that option,” said Wejr.
