Greater Vancouver Regional Districts Liquid Waste Management Plan

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Greater Vancouver Regional DistrictsLiquid
Waste Management Plan
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GVRD

• 21 municipalities one electoral area
• Delivery of cost-effective utilities such as
  water, sewerage drainage, solid waste
  management
• Environmental stewardship livability in the
  region
• Area size (Land Water) 329,202 hectares
• Population 2 million
• Annual population growth rate 1.6

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Greater Vancouver Region
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Historical Context

• The Sewerage and Drainage District and the first
  sewer plan date from 1914
• The Rawn report recommended a sewerage plan for
  the growing region in the 1950s
• The current LWMP provides a new path for the
  future

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Sewer System 1950
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Sewer System 2000
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Estimated Volume of Untreated Sewage Discharge
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LWMP Background

• The LWMP is a plan under the Provincial Waste
  Management Act
• Stage 3 and Addendum approved by all
  municipalities and GVRD - March 2001
• Provincial Minister approved LWMP April 2002
• Federal agencies have participated in development
  of the Plan
• BIEAP / FREMP partnership used to address Federal
  issues

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LWMP Strategies

• 1. Conserve Resources
• 2. Maintain Infrastructure and Stretch Capacity
• 3. Maximize Environmental Benefit per Dollar
  Spent

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Strategic Context

• 1. Conserve Resources
• Pollution prevention
• Water conservation
• Stormwater as a resource

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Strategic Context

• 2. Maintain Infrastructure and Stretch Capacity
• 12 billion dollars in existing wastewater assets

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Strategic Context

• 3. Maximize Environmental Benefit per Dollar
  Spent
• Limited financial resources and affordability
  context

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LWMP Management Process Based On

• Appropriate monitoring program
• Defensible Triggers
• Acceptable Risk
• Reasonable Options
• Mutually Agreeable Timelines

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Process Context

• A science-based approach is needed
• There must be an understanding of environmental
  risk
• The cost and benefits of options must be
  considered
• The LWMP incorporates these into a formal
  upgrading trigger process

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LWMP Upgrading Trigger Process
Define and evaluate risk in consultation with
Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks
Environment Canada
Discharge(s) meets Water Quality Objectives and
other established criteria
Assess options, costs, and benefits
Ongoing Review by Environmental Monitoring
Committee
District Board to select appropriate responses in
consultation with Ministry of Environment, Lands,
and Parks Environment Canada
Actions
Monitoring
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Municipal Wastewater Collection and Treatment
System
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Treatment Plants

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Treatment Plants
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Treatment Plants

• Established base level of treatment
• Secondary to river
• Primary to marine
• Upgrading based on environmental need and
  triggers
• Addendum No. 1 clarifies growth-driven upgrading
  at Iona and Lions Gate

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Recommendations - WWTPs

• Base expansions for
• growth, renewal, and substantial compliance
• Investigate and monitor high loading sources
• Assess copper reductions via water treatment
• Evaluate U.V. at Annacis, Lulu, Northwest Langley
• Monitor conditions and re-examine issues

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Source and Demand Management
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Source Management

• Why
• Protect workers, infrastructure, WWTP processes
• Improve biosolids quality
• Stretch capacity of existing systems
• Reduce effect on the environment
• Sectors
• Industrial
• Commercial institutional
• Residential

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Source and Demand Management

• Emphasis on Pollution Prevention
• Control of Toxic Substances Discharged to Sewer
• Consistent with Canadian Environmental Protection
  Act (CEPA 1999)

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Reduction at the Source
Substance Prohibition
Sector Control Programs
Pollution Prevention
Local Limits Methodology
Source Control
Sewer Use By-law
Water Conservation
Public Education
Pollutant Reduction
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Source and Demand Management

• Promotion of water conservation
• Eliminate stormwater discharges to sanitary
  sewers
• GVWD program to reduce copper levels
• Education programs targeting green buildings,
  sustainable communities, residential, commercial
  and institutional practices

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Residuals Management

• The beneficial reuse of biosolids

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Recycled Biosolids by Market Sector in 2000
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Environmental Management

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Environmental Management

• Designated WLAP water use protection is paramount
• A receiving environment science-based approach
• A formal process to determine upgrading needs
• A standing multi-agency Environmental Monitoring
  Committee

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GVRDs LWMP Environmental Management Program

• Receiving environment effects monitoring
• Discharge characterization
• Ambient monitoring
• Risk assessments
• Options evaluation

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EMP Monitoring Components

• WWTPs (5 Plants) - monitor effluent receiving
  environment
• CSOs (50)
• Recreational beaches (32 beaches with 120 sites)
• Stormwater (130 watersheds)
• Regional monitoring
• Municipal monitoring programs

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Treatment Plants Receiving Environment Effects
Monitoring

• Understanding the fate of discharges

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GVRDs LWMP Receiving Environment Monitoring

• water and sediment chemistry
• benthic invertebrate community
• acute and chronic toxicity
• bioaccumulation biomagnification
• habitat impairment community alteration

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Detailed Benthic Infaunal Analysis
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Receiving Environment Investigations

• Reviewed by Environmental Monitoring Committee
• Detailed environmental fate and effect studies
• Long-term monitoring programs
• All receiving waterways in the region

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LWMP Summary

• A long term commitment to sustainable wastewater
  management
• Action plans to address all identified issues
• Formally reviewed on a five-year basis
• Coordinated with other agencies including using
  BIEAP/FREMP as a senior level clearing house