It may not be the sexiest construction project in the Lower Mainland recently, but a new $27 million sewage treatment plant built by the Tsawwassen First Nation is being billed as a key piece of infrastructure for more than $1 billion worth of commercial, residential and industrial development taking place on treaty land.
“The new plant is a major piece of infrastructure that is crucial to our growth as a nation and a major step towards our community’s self-sufficiency,” Tsawwassen Chief Bryce Williams said at an official opening Thursday, March 17.
In 2009, the Tsawwassen became the first B.C. First Nation to implement a modern-day treaty under the BC Treaty process.
The treaty settlement included industrial and commercial land, which is now under development. The development includes the Tsawwassen Mills shopping mall, slated to open later this year, a new container inspection depot and residential housing development.
The new plant will serve the new mall, industrial development and up to 2,000 new homes, about 50 of which are built and occupied to date.
The Tsawwassen could have entered an agreement with Metro Vancouver to supply sewage treatment, but the First Nation opted to build its own treatment plant.
“We took a few of those steps initially to try and find a solution there, but in the end this is the solution that made the most sense for us,” Williams said.
The $27 million project was financed though Vancity, with backing from some of the developers involved in the Tsawwassen Mills project. The loan will be paid back through revenue raised from development cost charges and taxes.
The new treatment plant provides tertiary treatment, with the treated water going into nearby marshlands.
As the plant increases the volume of sewage treated, the plant’s manager said it is possible that the water could also be used at some future plant for irrigation, as the plant is located adjacent to farmland.
