West Coasters won’t be surfing in their own poop anymore after the District of Tofino officially opened its new $77.5M wastewater treatment plant on Aug. 22.
The environmental impact of historically dumping raw sewage into the beautiful waters of Clayoquot Sound wreaked havoc on shellfish harvesting areas, according to a Nuu-chah-nulth cultural lifeways guardian. “The north waterfront of downtown Tofino was a clam garden until recent decades,” said Gisèle Martin. “I’d love to see the day where clams could be eaten right from the shores again,” she added.
“If you go to other countries, I was just talking to somebody from Australia, they said you could buy oysters right in the bay from the shore. You can’t do that in Tofino because of the sewage and pollution. There is no reason why, if we were just a little more organized and disciplined, we could be eating clams right from the shore again.
I hope we get there in my lifetime.” Tofino’s wastewater treatment plant, located at the end of Industrial Way with the new outflow pipe at the end of Cedar Street, will service the tourist town of about 2,500 residents, roughly 600,000 annual visitors as well as the neighbouring Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) communities of Ty-Histanis and Esowista. The sewage treatment plant also has enough capacity to intercept wastewater from the TFN community of Opitsaht, which is a quick boat ride across the Tofino inlet, according to Tofino’s manager of infrastructure and ca.