By Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM
A proposed $5.6 million expansion of the biosolids facility on Commonage Road, has been put on the back burner. Vernon city council will instead reduce the amount of sewage-waste it sends to the facility, and will ask the city of Kelowna to do the same. The plan is to reduce the amount to what the facility was originally designed for. The situation will be monitored for six months to see if it reduces the odour problems raised by residents. City staff had recommended proceeding with an expansion of the two year old facility which they say would have helped meet the volume demand, and reduce the odour generation. The facility converts sewage waste from Vernon and Kelowna, into Ogogrow fertilizer. 70 percent of the product comes from Kelowna and 30 percent from Vernon.
David Facey lives about a kilometer from the facility, and made a presentation to city council Monday. He supports council's action, but wonders if it goes far enough, given that some people are getting sick from the smell. "We've had at least three residents that have complained of respiratory illnesses and two of them that have been diagnosed with serious illnesses and one of them, his physician recommended he pack up and move." Vernon still has to find an alternative way to dispose of its sewage 'sludge'. One option is to dump it in the landfill south of Vernon, but that would first have to approved by the North Okanagan Regional District which operates the facility.Kelowna already disposes some of its excess product into its landfill.
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