City ends up stuck with bill for 67,000 litres of False Creek boats' sewage
Credit to Author: Dan Fumano| Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 02:01:47 +0000
The City of Vancouver pumped 67,000 litres of sewage from the boats in False Creek last year and city councillors raised a stink Wednesday over footing the bill.
The city’s “mobile pump-out” program was immediately popular after its launch in 2017, serving 112 different vessels that summer. By last year, that number had more than tripled to 398 boats and 931 total pump-outs, with a peak usage of 29 boats in a single day.
When the program was launched in 2017 as a pilot project, a city report said sewage dumping from marinas and recreational vessels was “a primary contributor” to soaring E. coli levels in False Creek. And city staff connected the increase in live-aboards on the water to the rising cost of living on land: “The affordable housing crisis in Vancouver appears to have resulted in more residents living on vessels full-time.”
The staff report before council this week included three funding options for the service, estimated to cost $500,000 over the next five years.
The first option was a user-pay system, where customers “pay-at-the-pump,” meaning boat dwellers would be responsible for their own sewage costs. But staff advised against this, suggesting it would be “less effective” in preventing illegal discharges into the water
The second option was to fund the service by increasing business licence fees for False Creek marinas. Staff recommended against this because, among other reasons, not all users of the service belong to a marina.
The third option, which staff recommended, was to continue funding the service through sewage fees, money raised from most property owners in the city. This means costs are not necessarily borne by users of the service, staff acknowledged, but it “best encourages the overarching objective of the program to reduce illegal discharges and delivers service in a cost-effective manner.”
Green Coun. Michael Wiebe said there was growing concern about E. coli, which made Kits Beach un-swimmable last summer for the first time he could recall, while an unprecedented number of boats were moored off the beach.
NPA Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said she supports diverting sewage from False Creek, but wanted the city to avoid sticking taxpayers with the bill, noting the “multi-jurisdictional” nature of marine issues.
“What recourse does the city have around this?” Kirby-Yung asked. “We can’t go to the boats and fine them? We can’t make them pay?”
Margot Davis, the city’s manager of environmental services, said enforcement of illegal discharges in the water falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
When Kirby-Yung asked if the city has discussed the matter with the feds, Davis said there’s “an ongoing conversation” about what Transport Canada can do to increase enforcement.
Kirby-Yung said: “OK, but it sounds like nothing concrete at this point.”
“No,” Davis replied.
Council eventually approved the report, with an amendment introduced on the council floor directing staff to pursue additional cost recovery options, “including but not limited to senior government funding.”