Halifax Harbour Cleanup Inc. - Halifax Regional Municipality

Issues 13
4.
ISSUES
4. 1 THE PROJECT VERSUS THE “NO
PROJECT” ALTERNATIVE
The “No Project” alternative for the Halifax-Dartmouth Metropolitan
Wastewater Management System was universally rejected
by all concerned interests: residents, all levels of
government, HHCI and the Panel. Continuing to dump raw
sewage into Halifax Harbour was considered intolerable, irresponsible
and unsustainable.
Concerns about costs, site location, appropriate technologies,
and mitigation of potential impacts were raised within the context
of questions about how, where and by whom the Project
would be built and operated. Whether it should proceed was
not questioned.
The concerns. heard by the Panel included the following:
• The level of environmental remediation and protection that
may be achieved does not merit the Project’s high costs.
• The Project lacks technological flexibility and therefore does
not sufficiently accommodate the need for future improvement
or expansion. Upgrading to secondary treatment requires
expansion of the artificial island and restarting the
landscaping and visual remediation process.
• By not including controls at source in the Project, sustainable
development is not satisfactorily addressed.
• The site-selection process was inadequate, as alternatives
were not thoroughly considered and public input not prop
erly included.
• The unproven OFS technology is the only option proposed
for sludge management; it is a locked-in component of the
agreement.
• Designing for primary treatment is an outmoded approach.
• HHCI has missed opportunities to optimize treatment, minimize
capacity, and employ more environmentally beneficial
and economical means of treatment and disposal for some
parts of the system, such as Mainland South and Herring
Cove.
• The single-plant solution eliminates multiple-plant options
for Halifax, Dartmouth and Mainland South, which may be
environmentally and economically more attractive in the
long term; multiple-plant options would also lead each community
to accept responsibility for its own sewage
treatment.
Nevertheless, the Panel believes the Project must proceed
under the conditions specified throughout this Report.
Generally, the Panel acknowledges that it is difficult to
achieve an ideal cost-benefit ratio between expenditures and
improvements for all aspects of the Project, given its magnitude
and complexity. Some of the high costs associated with
components of the Project (for example, the collection system)
are necessary to correct long-standing environmental
and social problems. Costs are also attributable to such
pm-existing factors as dispersed and low-density development
patterns, and problems imposed by geography.
The Panel agrees with HHCI that from an environmental
standpoint the Project will bring about a significant long term
improvement in the health of the Harbour, its ecosystems and
adjacent terrestrial environments. Specifically,
• 50% of sewage solids will be removed and put through the
OFS process for conversion to energy and a marketable oil
resource
• a portion of the toxic organics and metals bound to settleable
particles will be removed by primary treatment
• some pathogens will remain with the sludge at the
STP/OFS facility, while others will be destroyed by disinfection
prior to release of effluent to the environment, thereby
significantly decreasing the number of viable pathogens entering
the Harbour
• a portion of the nutrients will remain with the sludge at the
STP/OFS facility, while those that travel with the effluent to
the receiving waters will be diluted and dispersed more
efficiently than at present
• plastics and floatables will be removed at the combined
sewer overflows (CSOs) or by screens at the STP/OFS
facility
• biochemical oxygen demand (SOD), chemical oxygen demand
(COD), and toxics will be reduced in amounts and
more widely dispersed, leading to significant long-term improvements
in sediment quality
• controls at source (although not a part of HHCl’s Project as
presently defined) can markedly reduce inputs of toxic organics
and metals to the Harbour
HHCI has also racognized the Project carries implications for
many economic sectors. The Project’s construction stage will
mean job creation and other immediate economic benefits for
the Halifax-Dartmouth metropolitan region, Nova Scotia and
Canada.
The Panel examined the case for a single regional STP/OFS
facility versus the multiple-plant approach and concluded that
for reasons of cost, operational, management and regulatory
efficiencies, a single regional treatment plant is appropriate.
An exception to this is possible alternatives for the Mainland
South and Herring Cove areas, which are dealt with in more
detail later in the Report. The Panel therefore confirms the
decisions of the Halifax Harbour Task Force and HHCI for a
single regional plant.
The Panel endorses the implementation of an overall wastewater
management system that includes water conservation,
controls at source, and appropriate levels and methods of