There was some anxiety generated in Cumberland in mid March when news emerged that officials from the village had requested a change in the terms of a grant from the provincial Ministry of Community Development, which was slated for upgrades and repairs to the village's sewage and waste disposal systems.
The concern centered on two related but separate issues- firstly, it seemed that the village was going to have to take out a large loan to pay for the upgrades, perhaps passing the costs on to the citizens, and secondly, was the innovative wetland waste disposal proposal still the preferred choice?
The problem exists because the $3.1 million.grant from the Ministry under the BC Communities Waste Improvement Project needs to be spent by next year, or it expires..
Bob Hoffstrom, Cumberland's engineer, who works out of McElhanney in Nanaimo,.says that the grant covered all of the following projects:
1. Upgrades to old infrastructure works, including separating combined sewers.
2. Upgrades to the existing sewage treatment lagoons.
3.Addition of a) lime precipitation works; b) constructed wetland cells; c) a new operations building.

The problem began when the Ministry of the Environment withheld its required approval for the wetland component of the works because it said it would not support a constructed wetland option until after a Liquid Waste Managment Plan (LWMP) had been completed and approved.
In fact the LWMP, a process begun several ears ago was already submitted to the ministry in two stages..Stage two recommended a constructed wetland solution to the village's waste disposal needs.
The existing waste disposal system in Cumberland is, like in many other municipalities in British Columbia, far from ideal. Richard Drake, a resident and member of the Cumberland Wetland Action Committee says “All we have had since 1980 are two lagoons, with the overflow going into Maple Creek and then the Trent River.”
The idea was proposed and accepted that the upgrades to Cumberland's waste disposal should be modeled after the very successful system developed in Accarta a town in northern California, where an abandoned, derelict industrial area was transformed into a sewage treatment area with enormous extra benefits.
Dr. Bob Gearhart and others developed a series of ponds and lagoons, plus some conventional upfront treatment technology which renewed the area into a natural oasis which has become a
wildlife sanctuary with thriving native plants and birds, complete with a trail system that now attracts 150,000 visitors a year, with all the co responding economic benefits.
Supporters saw no reason why Cumberland shouldn't have the same sort of thing – a gateway to Cumberland and the Comox Valley, with links to the rest of our greenway system. Sketches for walkways, viewing platforms, and an interpretive centre were completed, and the plan was approved by the Ministry of Community Development..Richard Drake and others believe the project “can put Cumberland on the map.”
Then the Ministry of the Environment put up roadblocks. Bob Hoffstrom explains: “In my discussions with the Ministry, they said the reports didn't take into account recent developments-” the 2004 Cumberland OCP, which greatly extended the village's boundaries and included a much higher anticipated population, and as importantly, the beginnings of a Regional Waste Treatment Plan, which is looking at combining all of the separate waste disposal needs of the area into one comprehensive system.
Because the regional plan will not be finished until the end of 2009, and the grant terminates on March 31, 2010, leaving only a few months for complex designs to be completed, this seemed like two ministries at cross purposes, with the village and its citizens stuck in the middle.
When it became clear that the grant would run out before the Ministry of Environment conditions could be met, it was decided to ask that its terms be changed, and that the wetland component be removed, so that the rest of the work could be done.
Hoffstrom says- “We recognize the logistics of using the grant money effectively. In the meantime we can change the scope of the work to account for the first items, and have another proposal to deal with the wetlands in the future”.
Observers have understandably feared that this might mean the end of the constructed wetland concept. But Bob Hoffstrom assures that this is far from the case: “The wetland has not been abandoned. We recognize it as a green solution and have not abandoned it.”
The good news is that the village engineer believes that this new funding scheme is useful, in that it allows for more time to test the technology.
Cumberland's lagoon is unique in that it is a peat bog- Hoffstrom says “There are four and a half metres of peat in some spots,” which raises issues of permeability.
“Last year we built a short berm section. We have been monitoring the settlement rates for the berm, and they are within the required limits. Now we need to build a full cell. The design is completed- we can start construction in June. We can then monitor the permeability of the berms, which allows us more time to make sure they can be built in a peat bog area, so we can proceed with confidence.”
As for increased expense to the citizens of Cumberland, there is no question that the other systemic upgrades are needed. But the provincial grant will cover 2/3 of their cost. Hoffstrom thinks this is “good value for the village. Otherwise you will pay the full cost.”
Richard Drake wonders whether the Ministry of the Environment is somehow against the idea of a constructed wetland system in Cumberland either because it doesn't believe it will work, or because it wants Cumberland to join the evolving regional system. He says that there is hardly the need for more waste management studies- “This has been studied to death. Why spend more money for studies? Union Bay has had five sewage studies. Fifteen years ago there was a discussion to do a region-wide system and it was defeated. Smaller localized solutions are the wave of the future”.
Hoffstrom says “In key discussions with the Ministry, it recognizes that (constructed wetlands) can work in the right conditions. They just want to make sure, and that it's good value. Once we get through the Liquid Waste Management Plan, we will make an application for another grant. The Ministry of Community Development is interested in setting up a database of information which it can share with other interested communities, There is already a similar project in Port Alberni.”