Metro Vancouver approves ‘re-scope’ of Iona wastewater treatment project to reduce annual costs

The Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant is seen from above in this photo from Metro Vancouver's website. (metrovancouver.org)

Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors has voted in favour of a new approach to the planned upgrade of the Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, which had been in line for a nearly $10 billion replacement.

Instead of building a new facility, the regional district will now be rehabilitating the existing primary treatment plant and delivering “phased upgrades” to achieve compliance with federal and provincial regulations.

The new cost estimate for the smaller scope of work is $6 billion, rather than $9.9 billion, and Metro Vancouver said in a statement Friday that the approach will “mitigate annual cost impacts for ratepayers.”

“Over the past year, Metro Vancouver has carefully examined options to deliver secondary wastewater treatment as quickly as possible, while ensuring cost sustainability for our region,” said Board Chair and Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, in the statement.

“In the past year, we’ve selected a technology that has given us an opportunity to re-scope the Iona project to something we can deliver for $6 billion, a reduction of almost $4 billion compared to the previous project over the same time period. This is a great opportunity for us to keep annual rates as low as possible for residents, while still ensuring we’re protecting human and environmental health.”

While the cost of bringing the 1963-built facility into compliance will now be lower, the regional district’s statement also mentions replacing it “as a future project,” though no timeline or price tag for doing so is included.

Metro Vancouver will also “reprioritize and defer sub-projects” that are not required for regulatory compliance.

“The updated approach is an innovative way to make sure we’re meeting our regulatory requirements, protecting the health of the environment, and being mindful of what residents are able to contribute financially to this important project,” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, chair of Metro Vancouver’s Liquid Waste Committee, in the statement.

“While we understand that deferring projects is never ideal, we had to make an important decision about what we could afford to do all at the same time.”

According to Metro Vancouver, the Iona Island plant is “one of the last remaining primary treatment plants in the U.S. and Canada.” The regional district is required by law to upgrade it to “a minimum of secondary level treatment.”

The plant serves approximately 750,000 residents of the region, mainly in the City of Vancouver, parts of Burnaby and Richmond, and UBC and its University Endowment Lands.

Roughly 40 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s wastewater – about 200 billion litres – is processed on Iona Island each year.