Surrounded by the pristine nature that is Tofino, a new $77.5 million wastewater treatment plant opened Thursday. It was a long time coming and marked the largest infrastructure project in the district’s history, and will help preserve nature’s beauty here for decades to come.
“It’s a bit of a dream,” said Tofino Mayor Dan Law. “It’s designed to serve almost 10,000 people so it is a significant, significant undertaking.” Tofino has a full-time population of roughly 2,500 people, but it can swell to 7,000 people on any given day due to tourism.
“That was a huge part of choosing the process technology that we chose,” said Tofino manager of capital projects and infrastructure Simon Kirkland. “We needed to have something that was easy to maintain and susceptible to the swing in flow rates, and the more people the more solids in the sewage as well.” But the biggest benefit is to the environment.
No longer will Tofino’s sewage be ending up in the ocean. Watch the full story below: “Well, previously the sewage was being discharged into the channel, fairly deeply you know but, that was the historical method and it was just not good enough,” said Law. So now after going through the plant, the leftover biosolids will be trucked to the local landfill instead.
“Personally, I’ve been working in water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities in different capacities since I was 19 years old, so this is massive for me,” said Kirkland. CHEK Newsletter Sign up for the CHEK Now daily email newsletter to get breaking news and the day's top stories sent to your email. Email Address Sign Me Up “It’s great to be a part of this, especially that this is one of the last communities in Canada that doesn’t complete secondary treatment to liquid waste.
So I’m very passionate about this kind of stuff,” he said. All levels of government, First Nations and a local hotel tax helped pay for the new treatment plant. “I mean this is a huge step.
We’re in a Unesco Boisphere Reserve, we’re surrounded by traditional shellfish harvesting areas and clam beds, and those will be cleaned up,” added Law. SEE ALSO: From Hitacu to Tofino, new public transit service connects Vancouver Island’s west coast communities Forever home: Video shows orphaned sea otter pups Tofino and Luna arriving at Vancouver Aquarium Editorial Policies Report an Error.
