KAGAWONG – The Township of Billings has received some good news concerning the wastewater treatment component of the waterfront project.
“I will read the update that we have been provided by staff on this,” said Billings Mayor Ian Anderson at a recent council meeting. “Staff are pleased to let council know that we have received our environmental compliance approval from the Ministry of Environment, Parks and Conservation. This means our system design for the wastewater (septic) treatment facility has been approved, and we can proceed with installation.”
“This is really good news. We had to go to the drawing board once before on this,” stated Mayor Anderson. He pointed out the actual septic treatment facility construction is something that will come down the road, and that the township must apply for funding for this. “This approval is for the septic bed itself and now we can proceed to have it installed.”
The staff memo read, “As a reminder to council, this is a component of the waterfront first phase project, which included the rehabilitation of the small craft basin. New, expanded wastewater treatment capacity is a vital element in creating new waterfront/lower Kagawong washroom facilities. Note that the washroom facility itself is not part of this phase, but will be a future project, hopefully occurring in the near future.”
The new treatment system will be constructed in the area currently occupied by the existing treatment bed for the Old Mill building. The new bed will handle wastewater flows from the Old Mill, and eventually (when constructed) flows from a new washroom facility in the vicinity of the parking area south of the playground.
“This (the wastewater treatment) has been one of the most challenging components of the waterfront to be implemented, because of the technical requirements and space limitations. We will be proceeding with the installation process as soon as possible,” the staff memo continued.
“The staff memo indicates this work will be done as soon as possible. Are we looking at the fall or spring?” asked Councillor Sharon Jackson.
Todd Gordon, economic development officer of Billings said, “we want to get on this, this fall.”
