The possibility of building a sewage treatment plant in Hillsburgh
has been rejected as impractical and too costly by the consultant conducting a
Wastewater Environmental Assessment for the Town of Erin.
Joe Mullan, President of Ainley Group, presented a technical report
to Town Council last week. He said there is insufficient data on the quality
and quantity of the river flow near Hillsburgh to determine if treated sewage
effluent could be safely discharged there.
Gathering the data for a new Assimilative Capacity Study could take
10 years and $500,000 – with no certainty that a Hillsburgh plant would
eventually get provincial approval. Council requested the analysis last month,
since the option had not be fully explored in the Servicing and Settlement
Master Plan (SSMP).
Ainley is recommending that the Town stick with the original plan
from the SSMP to have a single wastewater plant discharging downstream of Erin
village. Council has made no final decision on this.
A Public Information Centre on the wastewater situation will be held
on Thursday, June 22, at Centre 2000. It runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a
presentation at 7 p.m. It will describe the scope of possible work, and present
the results of studies done so far – including alternatives not covered in the
SSMP.
“The industry trend is towards less and larger treatment plants in
order to reduce operational and compliance costs,” said Mullan.
Having two plants would save the estimated $5.2 million cost of a
forcemain to pump Hillsburgh’s sewage along the Elora Cataract Trailway to the
Erin village plant. But building two plants (for the full projected population
increase) would cost $98.3 million, compared to $60.7 million for just one
plant.
In addition, operation and maintenance costs estimated over 50 years
would be about $75 million for a single plant – 32 per cent cheaper than for
two plants.
“Subject to development of a cost sharing plan with developers, the
full build out cost allocation to the existing community could substantially
reduce the per capita cost to existing residents,” the Ainley report says.
Previously, growth within the urban areas of Hillsburgh and Erin was
to be limited to 1,500 new residents – based on providing sewer service to all
existing residents. As reported last November, a new strategy could exclude
several areas from getting sewers. This would help free up capacity for
developers, and could allow about 10,000 new urban residents over 20-30 years.
This is referred to as “full build out”, allowing housing growth in
areas identified in the Town’s Official Plan. Council has been delaying a
decision on exactly where new subdivisions will be allowed.