Dawson City's sewage plant has got to go, Yukon gov't says

After six years and $35 million dollars spent, the Yukon government is admitting Dawson City's sewage plant is lousy, and should be flushed away.

"Clearly this plant didn't work the way it was intended to," said John Streicker, Yukon's minister of Community Services.

"We now project that by 2026, that the plant will no longer be viable — and so we want to start working towards a solution, now."

The plant was built in 2012 and began operating the following year. Almost immediately, there were problems as it consistently failed to meet water quality tests. Operating costs for the facility began to mount.

Then in 2016, the Yukon Party government admitted it might have a "lemon" on its hands. A plan to transfer responsibility for the plant to the municipality was then scrapped, and the territory has continued to run it.

It's now costing about $950,000 annually to keep it going, Streicker says.

"When we started looking at things, like how to get the plant so that it would work, we had to invest a little more money — and then we could see that over time, it wasn't going to really sustain."

He compares the annual costs of Dawson's plant to Whitehorse's sewage lagoon, which serves a much larger population and costs between $100,000 and $200,000 per year. Sewage lagoons in smaller municipalities typically cost less than $100,000 per year, Streicker said.

Dawsonites once considered a sewage lagoon, but voted down the chosen site in a referendum. The wastewater treatment facility — or, as Premier Sandy Silver once called it, the "WTF" — followed.

'Lack of knowledge'

Streicker says there are lessons to learn.

"I haven't seen another plant like this, in this type of climate," he said. "There was a lack of knowledge about how it would work."

Two years ago, the government sued the plant's builder, B.C.-based Corix Utilities, for $39.5 million in compensation — $27 million to cover the costs paid to Corix, plus a $12.5 million security bond Corix posted with its insurer.

Streicker says the suit is still before the courts.

"Of course we want to try and recover whatever we can ... I'm frustrated, I'm sure taxpayers are frustrated."

Dawson Mayor Wayne Potoroka is not surprised by the new plans to scrap the plant. Still, he's glad to hear it.

"I think just coming out and saying that is a big deal," Potoroka said. 

"It does help, at the very least, to allow us — the city, the Yukon government — to focus on what we have to do next to get this right. Big long road ahead of us though, to get there."

Streicker says the faulty plant will keep operating until 2026. A new filtration system installed last year seems to be helping, somewhat.

"Even though it's meeting compliance, it isn't passing with flying colours ... So yes, that solution got it working, but it did nothing to make the plant sustainable for the long term." 

Streicker says the solution is not necessarily another treatment plant. 

"There are many places that don't use a plant to treat our wastewater. And so those, hopefully, will be solutions that we discuss with the community," he said.

"I think that it's important that we try to look for solutions which have been tried and tested."