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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this book is to provide information to the citizens of Greater Victoria to enable them to decide whether they want a sewage treatment plant to be built, rather than relying on two existing long outfalls. These are located at Macauley Point and Clover Point and were designed to discharge screened sanitary sewage without causing pollution; also whether such a plant should be built to serve the Colwood area or whether that community would be better served by a long outfall.

It is the author's contention that such information has never been adequately provided, notwithstanding much publicity from recent work on this topic by the The Capital Regional District (CRD) towards production of a "Liquid Waste Management Plan", which they are producing.

The book reviews various topics in brief before examining Victoria's situation because an understanding of these is needed in order to form a balanced view They encompass some general history about sewage treatment and the factors that have led to present day concerns in Victoria about it; also the relative importance of our sewage discharges today compared with other discharges and with those of other places and of other times. It is hoped these sections will prove of interest to a general readership and that is a secondary purpose of the book

Municipal boundaries, populations, land area statistics and the like, are not encompassed, such information being readily available from other sources. The book does not take the place of any part of the engineering studies that are necessary before the design of facilities can be decided. It provides an overview of technical matters only, in-depth examination of these being available elsewhere

At the time of writing, the Capital Regional District appear determined to build a treatment plant and the Provincial Minister of the Environment has been urging them to do so. Many local politicians support his views. There is talk of whether Colwood should build a plant initially and if so, whether the site and the design should allow for expansion to encompass the rest of the region later.

Any decision will effect the community in many ways and for many generations to come. The construction of a plant is an almost irreversible step and it is hoped this book will provide information to assist the public in deciding what should be done.

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