Nope

No, Picton’s wastewater treatment capacity isn’t in crisis, nor is it an “ecological time bomb.” Such reckless and simply incorrect statements are unworthy of serious debate, let alone reporting and commentary in an otherwise respectable newspaper.

It is bizarre and frankly disappointing to observe our friends trading in lazy handwringing and feverish warnings—breathlessly intoning the lamest of tropes, “it’s only a matter of time.” (How many terrible policy decisions get made in the heat of false urgency?)

The newspaper offers no evidence that the town’s wastewater capacity is in jeopardy. Just the breathless, unsupported headline. The flimsy claim is all the more disappointing because the truth—the facts—are easily found. Easily understood. Easily explained. (Why work so hard to avoid them?)

According to the most recent report from Base31’s engineering consultancy, the Picton wastewater plant is operating at about 50 per cent of its average flow capacity, the Lalor pumping station at about 60 per cent, while some of the pipes to the plant are at or near capacity. The looming chokepoint—to the extent one exists— is in some connecting sewer pipes. These can be replaced and modified. Not a crisis. It’s called maintenance. Working with what you’ve got.

From SCS Consulting’s servicing report from last fall:

“To service the immediate requirements for Village A, as well as the Rental Building (Building A) within the revitalization district, a phased approach to these upgrades has been explored, which would allow the new pumping station installation to be phased to accommodate additional growth on the Heights. This would involve selective upgrades to a portion of the eighteen (18) existing sewer segments between MH25A on County Road #22 and the Lalor SPS. This could allow for the delayed installation of the sanitary pumping station until such time the WWTP expansions are brought forth and/or additional flow rates warrant it.”

We’ll come back to the “until…additional flow rates warrant it” line. It’s important.

Nor is it true that Picton’s water supply is a “time bomb”. Picton Bay and the municipal water treatment plant have supplied the town with safe, clean drinking water since 1928. It has been stress tested by contamination, fuel spills, and a century of weather. It endured decades when tons of coal transited in and out of the harbour to fuel this community. Yet the system has consistently delivered safe, clean drinking water to Picton residents. A testament to the operators of this system.

Picton’s water supply has served many generations of families and will do so again. It is nonsense and irresponsible to suggest otherwise. And I repeat: the facts are easily uncovered. If only one chooses to look.

Shire Hall spent a lot of money in 2014 to determine once and for all what it should do about Picton’s water supply. An engineering consultancy, R.V. Anderson, spent many months thoroughly examining the options for Picton water.

What did the expert engineers conclude? The best solution—for Picton—was a new water treatment plant and new intake into Picton Bay. R.V. Anderson’s 65-page report is packed with colourful maps, charts and rigorous measurements of the flora and fauna that reside in the bay. It’s all there.

The engineering experts found that this preferred alternative “reduced vulnerability to contaminants, posed minor environmental impacts during construction, and could be accomplished with lower construction and operating costs”. Not a time bomb.

These reports can be found on the County’s website. The Times, too. Breathless commentary is no substitute for research and reading.

Two years ago, another engineering consultancy was asked a very different question: If money wasn’t an option, would you prefer to pull water from a brand new pipe stretching into Lake Ontario, build and operate a single regional plant and pump water through a 20-km pipe to serve Picton and Bloomfield?

Unsurprisingly—when costs, complexity and environmental issues are extracted from the decisionmaking, or clouded by the mirage that waves of newcomers are about to suddenly descend upon your community, that the population will double and that all these new folks will pay for your grand scheme— the outlook for a regional plant may appear rosier.

But much as our friends would like, we can’t just ignore the enormous costs and the “astonishingly reckless” risk associated with this plan. We can’t ignore the complexity, the environmental hazards or certain cost overruns of a 20-km pipe from Wellington to Picton. We can’t ignore the experts when they tell us we are likely to see an average of just 110 new homes annually in Prince Edward County for the next 25 years (not nearly enough to fund this boondoggle). We can’t just wish that imaginary strangers will pay our potentially ruinous bills.

Base31’s engineering consultants are preparing to make do—to cobble together an interim solution for its first two phases—Village A and the Revitalization District, “until additional flow rates warrant it.”

Hmm…a phased approach. Making do. Sounds prudent, reasonable and cautious. But not nearly as exciting as setting your hair on fire.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca