A proposal to truck Canmore’s treated sewage sludge to the Town of Banff’s wastewater treatment plant is backed up in the decision-making process.
Parks Canada officials, who are concerned about the effects increased truck traffic may have on wildlife in the area, say they are reviewing the proposal and anticipate making a decision later this year.
Officials have previously cited concerns around the implications of access to the wastewater treatment plant along the golf course road, which is presently restricted in winter because it lies within a sensitive wildlife corridor.
“As the land manager, we have a duty of care and responsibility to ensure that residents, visitors and park resources are not adversely affected by the proposal,” said superintendent Dave McDonough in an emailed statement.
“Specifically, there are two acts that Parks Canada must adhere to – the Canada National Parks Act, to protect ecological integrity, and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act to ensure there are no adverse environmental effects.”
At the N-Viro processing facility at Banff’s wastewater treatment plant, cement dust is added to dewatered biosolids, then mixed with Banff’s residential and commercial organic food waste, heated and dried.
The end product is known as Banff N-Rich, which has received approval for use as a fertilizer or soil amendment. A distributor agreement has been signed with Strathmore’s Eagle Lake Turf Farm – the only customer so far.
Canmore hopes to save about $400,000 a year it costs them currently to send their treated biosolids to Penhold, Alta. and the Town of Banff hopes to generate more money from increased capacity at the plant.
Both municipalities also say it is a good environmental solution.
“The N-Viro solution is a regional solution for the Bow Valley of biosolids and organic waste,” said Paul Godfrey, the Town of Banff’s operations manager. “It reduces greenhouse gas emissions in the air shed and diverts waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.”
The Town of Banff owns the plant and N-Viro Systems Canada manages and staffs the facility. The municipality gets a 50 per cent share of net revenue earned by N-Viro from the sale of Banff N-Rich – about $15,000 a year so far.
The municipality currently produces two streams of organic waste – treated biosolids from the Town’s wastewater treatment system and the other from restaurants and residential organic food waste collection.
The organic materials are mechanically blended with an alkaline mixture, cement dust, to produce the product. Previously sent directly to landfill, cement dust comes from the Bow Valley’s Lafarge and Graymont plants.
Once mixed, Banff N-Rich is cured when the natural reaction of the alkaline material with the organics increases the temperature from 52-62 C and pH to about 12. The process virtually destroys all pathogens, while keeping beneficial micro-organisms for plant growth.
According to the Town of Banff, the N-Viro facility is currently running at about 25 per cent capacity. The mixer can handle 10,000 tons per year, and Banff currently occupies 5,000 of that and Canmore is expected to generate 3,000.
“From the Town of Banff’s perspective, this is an opportunity to enhance our already successful N-Viro program and we want to be able to lever off that to provide better service to our residents,” said Godfrey.
“Clearly, the financial and environmental cost to take biosolids 30 kms away to Banff is a huge savings on both sides and it’s the right thing to do,” said Canmore Mayor John Borrowman.
“I am frustrated Parks Canada is taking so long to make this decision. It means all of our planning for our community is on the backburner in terms of dealing with biosolids. We’re all sitting on the fence patiently waiting.”
Borrowman said the Town of Canmore would also like to explore, as part of its long-term planning, collection and composting of organics waste.
“That would be an important part of the conversation,” said Borrowman. “Banff takes organics to the N-Viro facility and if Canmore could do the same, it answers part of the question of ‘if we collect, what do we do with it?’ ”
In Canada, N-Viro facilities are also operating in the Ontario cities of Leamington, Thorold and Sarnia, as well as Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Summerside, Prince Edward Island. There are also plans to build a plant in India.
