French Creek Pollution Control Centre: Expansion and Odour Control Upgrades

To complete the tree clearing before the active bird nesting season begins on March 15th, crews will work on Saturday, March 13, 2021 between the hours of 8AM and 4PM.

Tree clearing and grubbing is necessary to provide construction access to the site and room for the plant expansion.

• Tree clearing will occur the week of March 8 and will be complete before the active bird nesting season begins on March 15.
• Grubbing of the stumps will follow immediately after tree clearing and will be complete by April 16.

Work will take place from Monday to Friday, 7AM to 6PM. Residents can expect noise from chainsaws and heavy equipment during this time and, potentially, minor traffic delays on Highway 19A while heavy equipment sets up.

At the Regular Board meeting on September 15, 2020, the RDN Board approved the addition of the following items to the project to contribute to carbon neutrality in the region:

1. Recovering Heat From Effluent - This will offset all natural gas heating for the new expansion process building and reduce the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 11.24 tonnes a year. This is a 91% improvement over natural gas.
2. Adding solar panels to the roof of the new expansion process building - 144 solar panels on the roof of the new expansion process building will produce an estimated 44.7kW of electrical power and offset the purchase of power from BC Hydro. This system would reduce the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by 2 tonnes a year.

The new expansion process building will also have a wood exterior over a steel frame to compliment the Wood First for RDN Facilities Policy and the Green Building Policy for RDN Facilities.

Project information posters are now available in the Background Documents.

Preliminary monitoring results indicate that some odour controls at the existing plant are working effectively and others require maintenance:

• The existing biofilter is effectively reducing odours
• The chemical scrubber requires maintenance
• The biological scrubber also requires maintenance.

Improvements underway now:

• FCPCC operators are currently troubleshooting repairs on the chemical scrubbers. FCPCC operators will focus on the biological scrubbers next.
• We are testing a charcoal filter on the septage receiving station. VIU will sample this in the upcoming months to assess its effectiveness.

Additionally, these odour control upgrades are being incorporated into the project design:

• The odour upgrades will aim to minimize or eliminate nuisance odours so they are not detectable outside of the property boundary:
• Existing biofilter media will be upgraded to treat foul air from the expansion
• A new biofilter will be added to treat foul air from the trickling filter
• Trickling filter window and roof seals will be improved.

A full set of project drawings is under review by RDN engineering and operations. The next step in the design process will be a 90% Detailed Design package, followed by the final Issued for Tender (IFT) drawings and specification package.

For updated information on this project, please attend our Public Information Session:

Wednesday, October 9, 2019
4PM – 6PM
Oceanside Place - Multipurpose Room (Upstairs)
830 Island Highway West, Parksville

Want to learn more about this project?

Drop in to one of our office hours at Oceanside Place or join us for our Open House at the French Creek Pollution Control Centre.

Office Hours:

Oceanside Place in the Meeting Room (upstairs)
830 Island Highway West, Parksville

Tuesday, May 14, 2019
10:00 – 12:00

Thursday, May 23, 2019
2:00 – 4:00

Tuesday, May 28, 2019
10:00 – 12:00

Thursday, June 6, 2019
2:00 – 4:00

Open House:

French Creek Pollution Control Centre
957 Lee Road, Parksville

Saturday, June 8, 2019
10:00 – 12:00

Tours of the plant will be available

For more information on this project, please attend our Public Information Session:

Wednesday, March 27, 2019
4PM – 6PM
Oceanside Place - Multipurpose Room (Upstairs)
830 Island Highway West, Parksville

The RDN has partnered with the VIU Applied Environmental Research Laboratories to implement a state of the art odour monitoring program to fingerprint French Creek Pollution Control Centre’s current odour emissions.

This monitoring program will:

• Use mobile mass spectrometry instrumentation to analyze molecular fingerprints associated with specific odour-producing substances
• Map chemical concentrations of a set of target compound classes including reduced sulfur compounds, amines, hydrocarbons and volatile fatty acids. Mapping will be done both at the French Creek Pollution Control Centre and in the surrounding neighborhood
• Analyse the odourants associated with human activities and natural sources including wastewater treatment, green waste production, agriculture, as well as natural marine and freshwater sources
• Assess the seasonal variability in odour sources and regional distributions
• Recommend potential odour control measures.

The proposed monitoring program will start in March 2019 and run for a year with multi-day sampling campaigns in spring, summer, fall and winter. Program results will inform the design of the upgrades and produce recommendations to improve air quality, reduce odour complaints related to FCPCC, and enhance the overall quality of life for neighbouring residents and visitors.