Yukon moving ahead with sewage plant plans in Dawson City

Yukon government officials say they're moving forward with plans to build a sewage treatment plant in Dawson City, following a series of information sessions.

Representatives from the government and Corix Water Systems, the Vancouver-based contractor in the running to build the plant, pitched the project at various sessions in Dawson last week.

More than 100 people in the town of about 1,300 took part in the sessions, with many seeming more curious than skeptical about the plan, government project manager Catherine Harwood told CBC News.

"I think that the best way to put it is people want more information," Harwood said Friday.

"This has been a long time coming, this project. There's been other attempts, false starts, and that kind of thing, and a lot of work has been put into figuring out the best solution is for Dawson. So people are interested in knowing exactly what we're proposing."

The $25-million project is meant to bring the town's sewage effluent in line with federal guidelines, as well as comply with a territorial court order issued in 2003, when the town was fined for dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.

The government's previous plan to build a sewage lagoon fell apart in March 2008, when residents voted in a referendum to reject the lagoon's proposed site.

The current plan calls for a mechanical sewage treatment facility, with two deep shafts to be drilled in town. Sewage and all would be pumped into the shafts, then pumped out when the sewage loses its toxicity.

Construction of the plant is estimated to cost $25 million, with annual operating costs of about $280,000, Harwood said.

"There was a lot of interest in the look of the building that will house the mechanical plant [and] a lot of feedback on how to make that fit in as best as possible with Dawson and their heritage plans," she said.

The sewage treatment system being proposed is used around the world, but Harwood said she is not aware of any places similar to Dawson City that have a similar system.

"There's no place exactly like Dawson in the world. Either the regulatory regime is different or the latitude is different," she said.

"The ones that we are going to take a look at and have done is Homer, Alaska. And yes, it's a coastal environment rather than an inland one, and they don't see the same extremes of temperatures."

Harwood said the Dawson project will be designed to account for its unique circumstances.

The government's next steps are to sign a deal with the contractor, then begin work on obtaining the necessary environmental permits, Harwood said.