Re: Don’t pass the sewage buck (Editorial, May 15)
While I appreciate that the News continues to explore the sewage treatment issue, please reflect the complexity of the situation in your editorial.
Give us the details about the painstaking and costly studies that were undertaken, because it is my understanding that that is exactly the problem, there were little or no studies and much money has been spent with minimal community involvement.
And some of the studies that were done recommend a very different approach than the one the Capital Regional District is bullishly pursuing, i.e. smaller operations throughout the region and extraction of materials for re-use; the shaming headline that the Esquimalt/Vic West community is passing the sewage buck, while a catchy phrase is very misleading.
Historically this area has more than done its share. It has been the site of industries that left a legacy of pollution that is only now being remedied. It is becoming a vibrant community with families proudly reclaiming the older houses and new and innovative housing and businesses, including Dockside Green, that unlike the CRD proposal, produces drinkable water from its more technologically advanced sewage treatment system.
I am concerned that the members of the CRD committee, now that they have spent so much money as well as risked their personal reputations by backing a flawed approach, will no longer be able to make an unbiased decision.
Our region voted in 2007 not to have centralized sewage treatment.
There is no hurry to do this. Let’s take the time to get it right. We are all in this together and we all live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Susan Webber
Victoria
