Residents in the French Creek area have long had to endure some foul odours emanating from the sewage treatment plant on Lee Road.
Things will soon take a turn for the better as the French Creek Pollution Control Centre (FCPCC) is now poised to undergo major improvements.
The Regional District of Nanaimo, which operates and maintain the centre, announced on Friday, Dec. 15, that funding of $25,496,859 has been committed to the FCPCC expansion and odour control upgrade project. Work is expected to start in the summer of 2024 and will be completed in 2027. Attending the announcement in Nanaimo were MLA Sheila Malcolmson, RDN board chair Vanessa Craig, chair of the RDN Liquid Waste Management Plan Monitoring Committe Ian Thorpe and Electoral Area G (French Creek, San Pareil, Little Qualicum, Englishman River) director Lehann Wallace.
Through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program’s Green Infrastructure - Environmental Quality funding stream, the federal government is investing $10,198,744, the province of B.C. is pitching in $8,498,103, while the RDN is contributing $6,800,012 as matched funds for the grant.
“This has been a long time coming to insure that this funding is in place to be able to handle the expansion project but also to mitigate the odour issues that residents have experienced for a very long time,” said Wallace. “I am very grateful to the federal government as well to the province for recognizing that this is an important project for the Regional District of Nanaimo and really grateful to see this funding come to the community to deal with the long-standing issues with this facility and also to expand the facility for the future.”
The FCPCC, built in 1977, is the second-largest of four wastewater treatment facilities owned and operated by the RDN. It treats wastewater from approximately 29,000 people and businesses in Qualicum Beach, Parksville, French Creek, Pacific Shores, Surfside and Barclay Crescent. The centre also treats trucked waste from homes with septic systems and holding tanks.
Approximately 3.8 billion litres of wastewater were treated at the centre in 2022. More than 90 per cent of the solids are removed from the wastewater before the treated effluent is discharged into the the Strait of Georgia 2,440 metres offshore at a depth of 61 metres.
The last upgrades done to the infrastructure were in 2006 and 2010. Since then the population that the FCPCC serves has grown and continues to do so.
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The new major improvement and upgrade project aims to meet the wastewater treatment needs in the service area, improve secondary wastewater treatment and reduce odour coming from the centre. It will include installation of new bioreactors, clarifiers, a process building, improvements to related infrastructure including electrical systems, mechanical systems, control systems and equipment.
The federal and provincial grant funding will help reduce the total estimated cost of the project from $110M to $90.6 million. The balance will be covered by RDN reserves, development cost charges and debt financing.
Craig expressed her appreciation to the federal and provincial government’s funding commitment to the project.
“This grant enables us to make critical infrastructure upgrades that will meet growing service demands in our communities while also helping to protect the environment through effective and efficient wastewater treatment,” said Craig.
Some of the estimated costs associated with the project: outfall replacement ($19.1M), digester upgrade ($19.6M), primary clarifier roof replacement ($1M), Bay Avenue forcemain replacement ($3.2M), and headworks and sludge upgrade ($3.8M).
Once complete, the FCPCC expansion and upgrades will:
• Increase FCPCC capacity by approximately 30 per cent and meet area wastewater service demands to 2040;
• Improve operational efficiency and replace aging infrastructure in the existing treatment plant;
• Incorporate extensive odour control upgrades in the existing treatment plant;
• Contribute to carbon neutrality by using solar panels and recovering heat from treated effluent.