By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
The Town of Amherstburg is continuing work on a Schedule “C” Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (MCEA) for the McGregor Sewage Treatment Facility, where potential expansion may be considered to accommodate growth.
Residents, developers, and business owners were able to weigh in with their opinions, ask questions about the project, and voice any concerns they may have during the second Public Information Centre (PIC) hosted at the McGregor Community Centre last Wednesday evening.
The McGregor Lagoons service the hamlet, which is divided by the County Road 11 municipal boundary, which is shared by Essex and Amherstburg. While residents and businesses of both municipalities in McGregor use this lagoon, it is located in – and operated by – Amherstburg, which also maintains the sewage system.
Information provided noted the sanitary collection system was constructed in the 1980s, and consists of a gravity sewer system with four pumping stations.
Through a study completed in 2018, it was determined the lagoon system was reaching near its capacity, Todd Hewitt, Manager of Engineering for the Town of Amherstburg, said.
This Environmental Assessment is to assess what to do to address that, whether that be to restrict growth or to expand the lagoons or the sewage system itself. If expansion is the determination after the public information sessions wrap-up, there will be recommendations to Amherstburg Council for endorsement and potential future financial considerations.
“Part of why we are here now is that there [are] lands within Amherstburg and within Essex that are still developable for homes or businesses or otherwise,” Hewitt explained. “The situation now is that we can’t approve those developments on our side – or on the Essex side – because there is no sewage capacity.”
The MCEA is reviewing options to see if that capacity issue can be addressed and allow those developments to proceed.
There are seven options residents can mull over, Hewitt said. They include remaining at status quo, restricting community growth, reducing sewage flows, modifying operations, discharging to a wastewater treatment plant outside of McGregor, building a new wastewater plant at an alternative site, or expanding/or upgrading McGregor’s sewage system.
When it comes to expanding or upgrading the McGregor Lagoon, there are seven different options, including aerating the lagoons, building a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), activating sludge process, installing a Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR), Moving Bed Biological Reactor (MBBR), a Submerged Attached Growth Reactor (SAGR), or a combination of Aerated Lagoons & SAGR.
The alternative being recommended is the SBR plant, Hewitt explained.
Hewitt said just expanding the lagoon would be a challenge. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks does not really encourage that, and there likely isn’t the land to do so.
The McGregor Lagoon currently has a capacity of around 1100-cubic-meters, which is being looked at to expand to around 3000-cubic-meters.
Residents are being asked if they like that idea, or if they would like to see another option adopted that may have a lower cost but may have a lower effluent, or if they would like to look at land acquisition for a lagoon system.
It’s about the environment, social impacts, and costs, he said.
Now that the second PIC has been hosted, staff will gather the comments relayed from the public on anything they like or dislike, and the Town of Essex, the Town of Amherstburg, and Stantec as the consultant on the project, will come up with a final recommendation.
Hewitt suspects that final recommendation will go to Amherstburg Council in the summer, as there is some work ongoing with provincial agencies on what those potential recommendations will be. Essex Council will also likely be approached.
At that time, those recommendations will come with potential costing, he added.
From there, consideration will be given as to when and how that recommendation can move forward, if it includes expansion.
Staff will look into applying for grants in hopes of garnering financial support for the project, if any are available at that time, to help reduce the cost to the direct users. Once the MCEA is complete, and there is a plan in place, that will give the towns something to approach the province with in terms of potential granting.
For information, or to provide feedback, log ontowww.talktheburg.ca/mcgregorea. Residents should submit their feedback within the next week, but Hewitt said Amherstburg will try to take them into consideration if they trickle in shortly thereafter.
“We are always interested in what the public has to say, because ultimately, they are the end-user,” he said. “They are the [people who] are going to fund it. That’s why we always encourage any sort of public consultation – any kind of input we can.”
He commented the turn out at last Wednesday’s PIC was good, with residents and developers engaging on the project. Developers, Hewitt said, could end-up funding part of the potential expansion through Development Charges. That could impact them and their ability to sell homes.