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Sewage lagoon procedures concern residents Hamlet of Fort Liard seeks to provide clarification
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 1, 2013
ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD
The Hamlet of Fort Liard is hoping to address the concerns some residents have regarding the way it treats sewage at its sewage lagoon facility.
Most residents don't understand the processes that take place at the lagoon, said John McKee, the hamlet's senior administrative officer. As a result, the hamlet receives complaints every year when it begins removing effluent from the top of the settling ponds, he added.
Complaints were made again this year after the hamlet began the process in late June.
"It's nothing new," said McKee.
For approximately the past 35 years, the hamlet has been pumping effluent on a yearly basis from the settling ponds into the forest surrounding the facility. The decanting is a standard procedure for all sewage ponds and the hamlet is required to do so under the terms of the water licence it received from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB), said McKee.
"This is an acceptable way of treating sewage," he said. "It's very highly regulated."
The sewage lagoon facility has several cells or ponds. Current dumping is done in the main cell before that matter is transferred to the settling ponds.
The contents of the settling ponds have to settle for a specific amount of time. Then, effluent, or water, on the top of the ponds has to meet certain standards, as set out in the water license, before the decanting can begin, said McKee.
Tests on the effluent are conducted by an independent testing facility and the results are submitted to the MVLWB so it can give approval before the process starts. This year, the hamlet received permission to begin on July 24.
McKee was unable to say how much effluent was pumped out this year without looking at the sludge level in the ponds. While the effluent is pumped out, the sludge that has settled in the tank is left in place.
McKee noted that every year, the federal government does a detailed inspection of the hamlet's operations, including the sewage lagoon, as part of the water licence. This year's inspection took place on July 5.
"We have to adhere the same as any other municipality," he said.
Zabey Nevitt, the executive director of the MVLWB, confirmed the decanting procedure is an approved activity under the hamlet's water licence.
The effluent has to meet set quality criteria before it can be discharged, he said.
Nevitt was unable to say if the procedure is used by other municipalities that also have sewage lagoons.
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