Dear Editor:
An open letter to Kevin Mooder, Sr. Project Planner, Jp2g Consultants Inc.
Re: Cobden Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP)
As Jp2g is the consultant for the new Cobden WPCP I have a few comments/ questions concerning the proposed design of the plant.
Since I am not privy to all the correspondence some of my comments may have already been addressed.
As you are probably aware the existing Cobden WPCP has had to bypass the WPCP approximately 55 times from 2003 to present. One of these events in 2014 lasted more than 14 days spilling several million litres of sewage-laden rainwater into Muskrat Lake. There were also two bypasses in 2012 totalling 162 hours and in 2009 there were 18 bypasses totalling 394 hours. These bypasses put almost 50 million litres of sewage-laden rainwater into Muskrat Lake.
As you probably know Muskrat Lake is a designated “At- Capacity” lake by the provincial government. This designation, as I understand, restricts any new lot development to have a 300 meter set-back from Muskrat Lake for the septic bed, so for me , as a resident on Muskrat Lake, any bypass of the WPCP is totally unacceptable and also contravenes the Ontario Water Resources Act.
In your “Preliminary Phase 1 and 2 Report Municipal Class Environmental Assessment for the Township of Whitewater Region Cobden Waste Water Treatment Upgrades, dated December 2015” you have indicated in section 5 , sub-section:“ Preliminary Cost Estimate” item #2 , Reduce Flows: $14,660,800.00. I would like to know how you arrived at a number that appears to be accurate right down to the nearest $100, when it’s preliminary?
Also in your Preliminary Phase 1 and 2 Report there is no mention of a spill lagoon , surge tank or any device to eliminate these bypasses of the WPCP. Is part of your proposal to eliminate some of the miscellaneous groundwater connections to the Cobden sanitary sewer? If it is then what guarantee do we have that this will eliminate bypasses into Muskrat Lake?
I’ve spent my whole career in the process industry both in oil refining and pulp and paper . I have been a project manager on two Effluent Treatment Activated Sludge plants and in both cases a spill lagoon was required by the Ministry of Environmnet. I’m surprised that a spill lagoon would not have been something that you would have at least considered in your Preliminary Report. Having built two very large spill lagoons I’m convinced that one for the town of Cobden would be a lot less than your “Reduce Flows” proposal at a cost of $14,660,800.00 and it would guarantee that there would be no bypasses of sewage into Muskrat Lake. Equipment does fail no matter what we put in place to mitigate this, so even though, as I understand, you have built-in redundancy there is no guarantee that without a spill lagoon there will be no bypasses of the WPCP to the lake.
In the report of the Environmental Manager of Whitewater Region to the Whitewater Region Council on November 2, 2016 it was made very clear that even with the new WPCP that Jp2g are proposing there will still be bypasses of the WPCP. If that is what you have proposed then that is totally unacceptable.
In the AECOM Report, dated September 8,2009:” Cobden Source Water Study: Categorizing Risks to Drinking Water” they state that the mean run-off for the Muskrat Lake and River watershed is 0.303 meters. Rough estimate means that it takes about 4-5 years to flush the lake at the south–east end before the mouth of the Snake River. My point being that any bypasses of the WPCP don’t get flushed out of Muskrat Lake in a few days.
I’m sure that you’re aware that Ottawa is planning to spend around $250 million to build spill tunnels under the city to eliminate spills of raw sewage into the Ottawa River. Muskrat Lake has 155 permanent, 111 seasonal residences and four resorts, Ministry of Environment and Climiate Change, and is also the drinking water supply for 1,000 residents in Cobden, so we expect that your design should guarantee no bypasses of the new WPCP.
As the consultant for the Township of Whitewater Region on the new WPCP I think it’s important that Jp2g not only look at the most cost-effective, technically appropriate solution but also what is going to be best for the residents of Cobden and Muskrat lake.
Donald W. Deer, P. Eng.
Whitewater Region
