OG yRD looks into spending millions on sewage upgrade SHORE is not. a- ’ SCwe pretty _ NORTH “treatment business. But “a Greater Regional District study is currently assessing, the needs and costs of” mating it and the massive sewage treatment operations in the GVRD member Lower Mainland communities more environmentally attractive. : : In addition to estimating con- version of the North Shere’s Lions Gate sewage treatment plant and the GVRD‘s three: other. Lower | Mainland sewage plants fromm primary :to secondary. treatment, the GVRD’ liquid waste manage- 4 ment study is examining regional water quality and water uses; sewer source control;cspecific problems facing local water quality; and the . effect on.arca sewage quality from contaminated land runoff such as oi) and agricultural pesticides? *-" North Vancouver: District Mayor | Marilyn Baker says, with the plan- ~ _ ned closure of the Premier Street Landfill at the end:of June, the - disposal of sewage and waste water. is: the’ next big challenge facing the , North Shore. sand: the entire: Lower Immediately’ ras maintenance and. upgrading ‘of. “| municipal, sewage, and water in \ frastructure i communities currently.” being, calculated: in ‘the Vancouver © contribute © $1,050,113 19° age” af - District, will in 1988 those total, casts. District, will North Vancouver towards Vancouver pay $913,582 and North Vancouver Ci- ty will pay the smallest amount in” 1988: $682,656. . ; The proposed “overhaul to. seé- ondary treatment would also more than double the plant's size. Lions Gate, which opened for business in 1961 after being built for approx- imately $1. million, expanded in 1964 and 1975., A ‘new ‘lease agreement for the: Lions Gate plant, which sits par-, tially: on Squamish Indian: Band land,-is currently being renegotiated by the GVRD. Secondary treatment would im-: prove removal of suspended solids ; .in the sewage: it. processes by. be- ‘tween 25 and 35 per cent: from.an | “average. 60 per cent: to” between &S. sand 95 per cent, + Lions . Gate. services the: entire Norih Shore, from Horseshoe Bay ‘to Deep Cove, handling an average daily’ raw sewage ‘flow of $7-mil-. tion gallons from 140,000 custom.’ Flows’ can,res ich up to 48 million “ gallons’ per day: But - such peaks * “occur only once or twice per year. » Lions Gate is the third largest.of ‘John Tailford. The process helps separate organic t feom inorganic’ s ‘solids... the GYRD's four sewage plant liquid waste study, will be over and: ‘are being neo! beards by : lion per year in. . sewage treatment Deputy. GVRD' engineer Brian. . ‘Talbot cestimated the: cost’ to’, - upgrade -the Lions: Gate. plant: to., -" ‘secondary sewage treatment alone” ‘s -would be- between $40 million and $43° million and add several million., : dollars: annually to the’ plant's cur-, : “Phe. 1988 opératin B. budget for. the: Lion Gate plant is $1,025, 000, ared by the three’ North Shore ! ‘municipalities according to the “total ‘assessed ‘ property ‘ values “of ea h. Total 1988 budget for the a West : he i 3 - Sunday, June §, 198%.- North Shore News substance over a 30- di WV digestion period. Methahe gas ts produced as a byproduct of this digesting pro-. cess: The Lions Gate ‘plant’ runs various ‘machines. fram “its daily i methane gas production of 140, 000 jeubic feet. Its daily methane gas | usage is “approximately cubic: feet. Excess, gas stored or burned off. The digested sludge is discharged, © ‘on designated | days over a: two, hour period, ‘one hour after ebb. y tides ” f- Lions | Gate is permitted to ? discharge a maximum of 24,000 gallons, of treated sludge on thse | specified days,’ Talbot said that though GVRD ~studies have indicated . the sludge docs: not: settle in the immediate area: of the: outfall, calculations » show that it could settle out af fur- _ ther distances. The first phase of the Gvep" s “study, he said, recommends Sludge: dumping into’ the ocean: be: stop- ” ped. Instead, the. ‘sludge confisericy “would. be reduced fram 97 per. cent 10,75 percent water and thes pro.” Massive.” - duct ‘would be trucked to, sewage being separated in the’ Lions Gate: Lions. Gate sewage treatment plant’ ‘. | preseration and sedimentation tanks Is taken in by News reporter ‘Timothy Reashaw and sewage treatment plant operator “Tonal. sérvicing* Vancouver, paby: Bur- UBC.’ Endowment : lands, Burnaby! and Richmond, : handles” an average. 90. million ‘gallons’ of, - » sewage per day from<500,000 resi- “gallons: per /day; and : dents:: AnnacisIsland, which, Sere municipalities (650,000, processes © 48 ' million the Lul “plant vices.: 14 residents), Island sewage | Areatment’ servicing « 90,000 Richmond" resi” - dents, handles ine million’ ‘gallon The i incomming: ‘sewage roars into the: Lions* Gate | plant. through assive 54°and 60-inch pipes ‘and - “processes: educe) suspended solids. by“: goes: through .. various which: between 55 and 70 per cent before being | discharged" into Farag Nar: ' Sewage. is initially: treated - with Solids ~ pumped into’: preaeration © tanks, where addition of. low. air, _presstre helps: separate. organic substances», “from non-organic grit; which sinks: is dried. and: hauled. tothe Premier Street: land-: erie ‘ removed by: scrapers, while’ lighter! | floating. scum is ‘skimmed’ from’. to tank: bottoms, i Heavier” organic sludge is!.. - Sewage, water “surfaces before th ‘clarified effluent ‘i again. treated “with chlorine and ‘discharged fron . a-54-inch diameter outfall, © G Jnspects th treatment plaat’s + which is broken a he outfall pipe, is approximate: ly 800. feet offshore: and. 90° we tide igestion then; “services ‘the entire. North. Shore, from | 115,000 | is ‘either | “Horseshoe Ba an to Deep Cop “screened, .. | ground into ‘smaller particles to aid, jin later. biological as a fertilizer additive. ~The GVRD study will be ‘broken J into two phases. Phase one should . be completed by July.: “Te -mulate:an overall’ plan for sewage the: first phase’ study and: subse, ‘quent provincial ; “government.” in-, Contributions ’ from. “higher « levels © the’. me cial, ‘viabilility . of sich a massive “ overhaul plan. + ¢ ; “We: just spent’ $38 ‘mill the deep” ocean outfall’ for:the lona cent:-from : “the -ernment,’’: Talbot said. Rot just ‘improving th ! The second . phase would’ for- “disposal in the GVRD, based on: Jon the: fona : plant’. where it would. be: ‘dried’ and used wo: ; tofe government, . “Talbot said, are. vital to the fi finan- Ss ar system, we are “protecting | the; fish .