(L-R) Don Bonner, RDN board chair Tyler Brown and Sean De Pol were on hand for the grand opening of the enhanced Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre. (Shawn Wagar)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

sewage treatment

Construction finishes on $82M sewage facility upgrade in north Nanaimo

Apr 8, 2021 | 4:56 PM

NANAIMO — A lengthy and expensive construction project to vastly upgrade sewage treatment and capacity in the Nanaimo area is complete.

The Regional District of Nanaimo announced on Thursday, April 8 the conclusion of its $82 million secondary treatment project at the Greater Nanaimo Pollution Control Centre (GNPCC) off Hammond Bay Rd.

“Primary and secondary treatment combined remove more than 90 per cent of the solids from the wastewater before treated effluent is discharged to the ocean,” noted an RDN news release.

The RDN’s manager of wastewater services Sean de Pol previously told NanaimoNewsNOW the secondary treatment service will remove an additional 15 per cent of materials from the waste waster coming into the facility.

Construction of the project to accept and process sewage throughout the City of Nanaimo, Lantzville and Snuneymuxw First Nation began in 2017.

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The RDN’s largest capital project in its history was paid for by reserves, development cost charges, borrowed funds and grants.

Thousands of dump truck loads worth of material were removed from the site near Hammond Bay Elementary School to embed several large tanks into the ground.

Any odours from the facility are removed with bio and carbon filters, the RDN said.

Director Don Bonner, who also serves as chair of the Liquid Waste Management Plan Monitoring Committee, said the project supports their environmental, social and economic goals.

“With over 10 billion litres of wastewater treated annually at the GNPCC, the completion of this project will help the RDN achieve a number of objectives under the Liquid Waste Management Plan,” Bonner said in the release.

The GNPCC is the largest of four wastewater treatment facilities owned and operated by the RDN.

The project was rounded out with improved exterior landscaping and a multi-use asphalt walking and biking path on Hammond Bay Rd. between McGuffie Rd. and Shores Dr.

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