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waste water
Fort St. John produces the equivalent of 850 sewer truckloads of sewage every
day, rising to 3000 truckloads on heavy rain days. The City employs a process
that uses no chemicals.
The sewer system has two primary components: the Sanitary Sewer
and the Storm Sewer.
Sanitary Sewer
(Toilets, Showers, Laundry)
Within the City Boundaries, sewage is collected from buildings
through underground pipes. The sewage flows by gravity and pump
stations to treatment lagoons on the north and south sides of the
City. The South Lagoons discharge to the Peace River on a continuous
basis, whereas the North Lagoons discharge to the Beatton River
on a seasonal basis.
Some of the issues the City must consider include large peak flows
during rainstorms, which can cause basement flooding, and phosphorous,
oil and radioactive substances that are not currently being removed
before sewage enters the rivers.
Storm Sewer
(Rainwater, Snowmelt) Rainwater and snowmelt is collected in ditches
and gutters and then enters the pipe network through catch basins
and ditch inlets. The water flows by gravity to the north and
south, exiting the pipe network into ditches, then into creeks
and eventually into the Peace and Beatton River.
Concerns include the large volumes of pesticides, oil and silt
the City discharges into local creeks and rivers.
If you have questions or concerns regarding the sewage system
please call Don Demers at 787-8174. If you are concerned about
Fort St. John’s sewage system, the City encourages you to
get involved through the Public Advisory Committee.
The Committee
deals with the Cost of Treatment, Basement Flooding, Oily or Radioactive
Wastes in the Rivers, Illegal Sewer Dumping, Phosphorous in the Rivers, Water Conservation, Re-use of Bio-Solids, Zoning Bylaws
Around Lagoons, Sewer Odours, Aging Infrastructure, Sitting Water,
and Open Ditches.
The Committee also participates in forming the Liquid Waste Management
Plan. The plan defines the issues and problems related to liquid
waste. It then identifies all feasible solutions, Evaluates the
options and selects the preferred one.
Creating the plan requires educates the public about the issues
and a public process to seek broad input. Once in place, the
plan enables the City to proceed with implementation without
obtaining further public consent.
We Need YOUR OPINIONS to Identify the Most Important Issues and
Acceptable Solutions.
You can get involved by requesting to join the Public Advisory
Committee. For more information call Don Demers at 250-787-8174
or Victor Shopland at 250-787-8162
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