There is no place for RVs and camper-vans to dump human waste in the City of Richmond.
And recent investigations by city staff concluded there aren’t any suitable spots for a sani-dump and, if one were built, the cost to users could be up to $165 per use.
After a recent report of someone dumping sewage onto the street, Richmond city Coun. Michael Wolfe suggested at Tuesday’s public works committee that it might be time to build a sani-dump in Richmond.
The idea was rejected by the majority on the committee, with Coun. Linda McPhail pointing out it’s been considered already three times in the past 10 years with the conclusion it’s not doable.
“I don’t feel it’s an appropriate allocation of our staff time to this again,” she said.
In fact, two sani-dumps that were previously privately operated in Richmond closed after the owners complained about mistreatment of the system with users dumping chemicals and other “non-compliant” waste into them, according to a memo that went to council almost a year ago.
Coun. Carol Day, who was attending the meeting but doesn’t sit on the committee, said she never accepted the memo and thinks it’s time to be “creative” about getting one, for example, at McDonald Beach.
“It might not be a feasible option, but it needs to get done,” Day told the committee.
She also said she couldn’t understand a city that has sewage treatment centres within city limits can’t have a sani-dump for RVs.
But Coun. Alexa Loo, who sits on Metro Vancouver’s liquid waste committee, said the idea of having a sani-dump at Annacis Island and Lulu Island wastewater treatment facilities is a “no-go” for the regional government, something she had asked Metro Vancouver to look into.
In last year’s memo, city staff note the best place to locate a sani-dump would be at an existing sanitary pump station.
In Richmond, there are a total of 153 sanitary pump stations, but, because many of them are located on the side of roads, there isn’t room to safely access them.
One option city staff considered was to locate the sani-dump at a sanitary pump station in Minoru Park behind Gateway Theatre.
However, the conclusion was it would be too hard for RVs to go in and out of the park to dump their refuse.
Another location suggested at that time was the worksyard on Lynas Lane. This would have needed the construction of a hookup and asphalt pads to the tune of $250,000 with annual operating costs of $150,000.
To recover capital and operating costs, the city estimated users would be charged $165 per use of a Richmond-built sani-dump.
Many sani-dumps in the Lower Mainland are located in campsites, but there are no publicly accessible campsites in Richmond.
