When Will Future Of Region’s Odorous Sewage Lagoons In Niagara-on-the-Lake Be Decided?

By Randy Busbridge

What is going on with the Niagara-on-the-lake Sewage Lagoons?

For several years, nearby residents have been complaining about unpleasant odours. And it’s no secret that the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is nearing capacity. 

Niagara region's sewage lagoons in Niagara-on-the-Lake - an odorous and unwanted neighbour for at least some residents in the community.

A servicing study completed by Niagara Region in July 2008 confirmed that the facility will reach its limit by 2013. It also confirmed that the WWTP is challenged to consistently meet Ministry of the Environment targets, and stated that options needed to be identified as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, by then Project Niagara had come along with its proposal to locate a summer music festival on the site of the current WWTP. This controversial proposal has served to muddy the waters, confusing and slowing down the decision making process. This is not good because time is on no one’s side.

In the spring of 2008, commenting on Project Niagara’s desire to begin operations in 2012 to leverage War of 1812 Bi-Centennial celebrations, Public Works Commissioner Ken Brothers said four years was probably not enough time to relocate the wastewater treatment facility.

All the more urgent, then, when the Region began a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment process in 2009 in order to evaluate alternatives, and finally deal with the problem. Only four years were left before the sewage lagoon problem turned into a crisis.

In June 2009, dozens of anxious residents attended a Public Information Centre set up as part of the process. Handouts from that session stated that five options were being evaluated – one which upgraded the existing WWTP in situ, and four options which moved wastewater treatment to a new location.

Literature from that session also explained the Environmental Assessment process, and stated alternatives would be assessed based on: socio-economic impact; environmental impact; an archaeological assessment; and the application of formal evaluation criteria.

The results of that analysis were to be brought to a second Public Information Centre in the fall of 2009, and to be reviewed with various government agencies, before final recommendations were taken to Regional Council. The second Public Information Centre never happened. No report has been taken to Council or the Public Works Committee.

The findings, if any, are a mystery. So what’s going on?

Inquiries to Public Works are met with vague statements to the effect that the whole thing is still in the planning stage. This is hardly credible given all the previous – and very public – studies, plans, reports and meetings.

Time is of the essence.

We have three years before the existing WWTP reaches capacity, we’ve been told getting something done is four years was next to impossible, yet all we have is silence. Was the Environmental Assessment completed?

If so, why don’t’ we know the results?

(Randy Busbridge is a Niagara-on-the-Lake resident and member of the Harmony Residents Group, a non-profit citizens group lobbying for an eco-park on sprawling Parks Canada property along the shores of Lake Ontario in his town. You can learn more by visiting the group’s website at http://harmonyresidentsgroup.blogspot.com/ )

(Click on http://www.niagaraatlarge.com for Niagara At Large and more news and commentary on matters of interest and concern to residents in our greater binational Niagara region.)