Mayor's Report - July 1999

In 1989, the GVRD completed Stage 1 of the Liquid Waste Management Plan (LWMP) in accordance with the provincial Waste Management Act, and is currently working on Stage 2 of the LWMP with the objective of completing the work by the end of 1999. Consequently, the current LWMP work represents a rare opportunity to implement policies for the protection of our region's waterways, including Indian Arm, and the purpose of this report is to outline the policy initiatives that I have been pursuing as Chair of the GVRD Electoral Areas Committee.

One weakness of the LWMP has been its limitation to only those municipalities that are serviced by the regional sewer system (GVS&DD). Last year the Electoral Areas Committee brought that limitation to the attention of GVRD's planning staff and, after discussions with the BC Ministry of Environment, the scope of the LWMP now has been broadened to encompass the whole of the region, including all areas not serviced by sewers. This is important in that it enables the LWMP to include policies such as those advocated by Belcarra Council.

Last summer the Electoral Areas Committee recommended that the GVRD request that Indian Arm be designated under the Pleasure Craft Sewage Prevention Regulations as a "No Flush Zone" by the BC Ministry of Environment and Canadian Coast Guard. As a result of that request, the LWMP now includes both Indian Arm and English Bay as important recreational waters proposed for designation.

In October 1998 the Electoral Areas Committee discussed the need to develop policies for dealing with liquid waste management issues for areas outside of the GVS&DD boundaries. In addition, discussions with the BC Ministry of Environment have indicated that if local governments (such as Belcarra) desire permits issued by the BC Ministry of Environment to meet higher standards than those of the Ministry, then the appropriate policies must be included in the LWMP for the area. Accordingly, on July 9th the Electoral Areas Committee unanimously recommended the following policies for inclusion in the LWMP:

1. Require property owners with BC Hydro service and road access to investigate all land based options including approved innovative technologies and demonstrate that such land based options are non-viable solutions prior to any consideration of sewage effluent discharge into an adjacent water body.



2. Permit as the minimum acceptable level of treatment for properties in "isolated" locations having neither BC Hydro electrical service nor road access, a properly designed septic tank that provides treatment of domestic sewage prior to effluent discharge in accordance with the new Waste Management Act Municipal Sewage Regulation (July 15th, 1999).



3. Prohibit direct discharge of "raw" untreated domestic sewage to the marine/aquatic environment under all circumstances.



4. Require property owners discharging to the marine/aquatic environment to obtain discharge permits from the appropriate jurisdiction.



5. Require property owners discharging or proposing to discharge effluent into an adjacent water body to obtain an easement for the placement and maintenance of a discharge outfall pipe, from the appropriate jurisdiction.



6. Where the authority having jurisdiction for sewage discharge or sewage disposal is other than the local government, and where the bylaws or policies of the local government stipulate standards or requirements higher than those of the authority having jurisdiction, then the authority having jurisdiction will make best efforts to issue approvals which comply with requirements of the local government.

As can be seen, the foregoing policies have been substantively shaped by the policies developed in Belcarra. Of particular note is policy number six (above) that will enable Belcarra's policies to supercede those of the BC Ministry of Environment.

In parallel to the GVRD's Stage 2 LWMP process, I am recommending that Belcarra Council formerly adopt the above policies as a first step to implementing a uniform set of sewage discharge policies for Indian Arm. With Council's endorsement, I have also written to the Mayor and Council for the District of North Vancouver requesting that they join Belcarra in adopting the same policies for their non-serviced areas of Indian Arm.

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