Members of the regional district sewage commission have yet to reach a decision about retaining the services of a hydrogeologist to study groundwater implications if a sewer pump station is construct ed at Beech Street in Area B.
At its Tuesday meeting, the commission approved Comox director Ken Grant’s motion to defer the matter to its next meeting June 23. Area B director Rod Nichol feels it’s wise to defer until another study regarding the contentious issue of the proposed station is completed. Details about the study were not available because the matter was discussed in-camera.
The members approved a motion from commission chair/Courtenay director Manno Theos to permit the Comox No. 2 pump station advisory committee to attend the in-camera portion of Tuesday’s meeting.
“I do feel if there’s questions of clarification, having members at the initial portion would be valuable,” Theos said. “They’ll be there for clarity.”
The Croteau Beach-Hawkins Greenway neighbourhood is unhappy about the proposed station that is estimated to cost $10,700,500. A key concern is how a new pump station would impact ground water in the area.
A study had recommended constructing the station on Beech Street, and installing a new inland forcemain alignment from the station to the Comox Valley water pollution control centre (CVWPCC).
It would bypass Willemar Bluff near Goose Spit. The CVRD purchased the Beech Street property last year.
The Courtenay pump station has reached capacity, which necessitates the No. 2 station. Besides Beech Street, a study identified other possible locations at MacDonald Wood, Filberg and Baybrook parks, and a property near Comox Town Hall. However, the CVRD board in February voted to exclude Mack Laing, MacDonald Wood, Baybrook (Stubbs property) and Filberg parks as potential sites.
The advisory committee, which includes the public and technical people, has identified five alternate sites: Beech Street, two private properties, a provincial property and the Courtenay pump station that is operated by the CVRD.
The latter would see an upgrade of the Courtenay and Jane Place pump stations along with the forcemain replacement from the Courtenay pump station to CVWPCC along a new inland route, district CAO Deb Oakman says in a letter.
The upgraded stations would have the capacity to pump all the way to the treatment plant without the need for the No. 2 station.
Wastewater from Courtenay and Comox is transmitted to the CVWPCC through a large diameter forcemain that follows the shoreline from the Courtenay River estuary to Goose Spit, and along Willemar Bluff. In 2002, the CVRD discovered beach erosion along the bluff had exposed significant portions of the forcemain.