Long haul commutes and consistent odours lingering around the Plamondon RV 'sani-dump' station has Lac La Biche County’s Ward 3 Councillor Colette Borgun speaking up about the hamlet’s limited access to waste disposal services.
The lack of proper waste and wastewater disposal in the area, as well as the misuse of the RV dump station has been long-standing, says Borgun, who is now pushing municipal administrators to find solutions to increase waste management services to the west portion of the County.
Since her request was first discussed on May 25, the idea has gained traction with Council and potential options are now being evaluated with the hope that funds will be set aside for the project during the County’s next 10-year capital budget.
Options for disposal
Two potential project options brought forward by administration for a future, expanded septage receiver have both been proposed for the truck fill station located next to the Old Trail on the east-side of Plamondon. However, each alternative comes with a substantially different price tag and scale of infrastructure.
The first option presented by administration is a smaller station with a small pump that adds incoming waste to the existing municipal sewage line. This option would cost approximately $100,000 — but could only handle the smaller loads. This smaller system would not be capable of accommodating larger, commercial waste-removal trucks.
The other possible option would cost the County approximately $600,000, however, it would come with substantial infrastructure and would be capable of processing commercial and private waste. The larger septage receiver station that administration has proposed, would send waste to the Plamondon septic lagoon, eventually diluting the effluent with additional fluid and sending Plamondon waste to the County’s Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) plant west of Lac La Biche. Recent grants from the province helped to construct lift station pumps for that sewage line.
Making decisions for the long-term
From the available information, the majority of councillors agreed that a larger facility would benefit more users and has the capacity to handle future growth in the area.
“I still think that if you're going to do a project like this, you might as well do it to accommodate all, rather than just the campers that's passing by,” said councillor Charyln Moore. “The requirement for septic systems is only going to grow in our community.”
More information is expected to be brought before Lac La Biche Council during the County’s capital budget meetings to help aid their decision in determining what type of waste disposal system may best serve Plamondon and surrounding area residents. The discussions will see municipal councillors and administrators determining the feasibility of a waste disposal infrastructure project based in Plamondon, while considering available funding and whether the project might compliment or interfere with other long-term waste management plans for the area.
That long-term plan will play a big role in the current Plamondon issue, says Deputy Mayor Jason Stedman. He said ongoing advances in water and sewer servicing in subdivisions and the hamlets within the municipality will have to be considered. With more services available, there may be less use of dumping stations, he suggested.
“If we're going to be investing in it, I do agree, we do it we do it right, but I'd like to know what type of volumes that we are dealing with out of the Plamondon area. Particularly, if we're expanding water sewer around our lake,” said Stedman. “A $600,000 investment for something that in 10 years or 15 years may not be as much of a necessity.”
