First Nation plots wastewater plant to process rural residents’ poop

A local First Nation has a plan to deal with the Fraser Valley’s rural poop.

The Leq’á:mel First Nation’s economic development corporation wants to build a $50 million facility to process the region’s waste and turn some of it into fertilizer.

If approved, the roughly 66,000-square-foot building would be located on the southern banks of the Fraser River, between Chilliwack and Sumas mountains.

There are hopes the project could take in waste from rural regions of the Fraser Valley, four years after Chilliwack and Abbotsford stopped accepting trucked liquid waste from unincorporated communities.

All clogged up

Leq’á:mel, like many First Nations and rural communities, does not have a centralized waste system. It stores its sludge in septic tanks and has historically trucked the waste to a facility jointly operated by Abbotsford and Mission.

But the flow of poop was blocked in 2021, when that facility started turning away trucked liquid waste from outside Abbotsford and Mission because the shared facility was nearing capacity. Chilliwack passed a similar policy two years later, citing its own rapid population growth.

The growth of local cities has strained an already near-capacity waste system, leaving Leq’á:mel residents and thousands of others living in rural Fraser Valley communities—from the U.S. border to Boston Bar—without a local, affordable place to process waste collected in septic tanks.

The decisions have led some to worry about septic systems failing, and whether that would lead to illegal dumping, which could impact drinking water.

Since local cities started barring the waste from rural residents, the cost to ship a truckload of waste has doubled or tripled for some Leq’á:mel residents, said Ron Smith, CEO of the Leq’á:mel Development Corporation, who recently introduced his organization’s plans to Hope council.

Trucking companies collect over 17 million gallons of liquid waste in Fraser Valley Regional District electoral areas A through H per year, according to the nation. The figures amount to roughly 20 to 30 trucks carrying waste out of the region per day.

Most of that rural waste currently goes to Annacis Island or the Thompson-Nicola region.

Smith estimates the cost of the average Leq’á:mel truckload increased by $1,000 following the decisions to halt the flow of out-of-town waste.

The plans

The dramatic cost increase led the nation to try to develop a solution that could reduce the strain on existing plants and the costs that rural residents pay to ship waste out of town.

The first nation envisions one 66,000-square-foot plant located on its Lackaway 2 reserve on the south bank of the Fraser River, just north of the Ritchie Bros. lot. The facility would be open to both municipalities and First Nations.

“The objective is to take the stress off the supply chain that currently exists,” Smith said. “Our hope in creating a viable option is to get those costs down to close to where they were before the gates were shut.”

Smith said the first nation also selected the site because it’s already used for industrial purposes and has no nearby residential communities. Plans for the site include multiple septic storage and processing tanks with a capacity ranging anywhere from 150,000-280,000 gallons.

A second site has been identified on the north side of the Fraser River, on the first nation’s Papekwatchin 4 reserve.

A facility on that parcel would be built “subject to demand,” according to Smith.

Finalized plans are still up in the air. Smith said Leq’á:mel may pivot and create two smaller facilities at each site, as opposed to a larger one at Lackaway and a backup facility north of the river.

The nation has received a grant from Indigenous Services Canada to conduct a pre-feasibility study. Aside from some funding from some technology providers, the nation and its development corporation are planning to pay for the project.

Eventually, Leq’á:mel expects the project to fund itself, due to the high demand for waste removal in the region.

Not just poop

If the plan proceeds, Smith says it could also end up helping the region’s farmers.

The nation hopes to use the plant to turn some of the liquid waste into fertilizer.

It remains unclear just how much of the waste could be re-used. Although most of the waste would be consumed in the process, Smith said some could be turned into dry solids or aqueous ammonia through an environmentally-friendly steaming process.

“There’s no steam plumes, there’s no emissions to speak of.”

Sean Wilton, who co-presented in front of Hope council on Mar. 10, added the whole process is odourless.

The FVRD is eager to hear Leq’á:mel’s proposal, said Cory Cassel, Electoral Area G’s director on the Fraser Valley Regional District board.

The FVRD is not bound by any legal contracts to provide septic services. But the regional district has signed an agreement with Metro Vancouver to ship rural waste to Annacis Island, Cassel said.

That agreement was signed after Cassel and his fellow area directors began receiving calls from rural residents who could no longer pay to truck their waste to a nearby city. Most of those calls came shortly after Chilliwack’s decision to stop taking waste outside its borders. But Metro Vancouver agreement only includes FVRD-owned sewer systems, not resident's septic tanks. The FVRD has a special permit to transport sludge from about 1,250 properties in six of its eight electoral districts to the larger wastewater facility.

But the owners of private systems who use private haulers still have to find other arrangements.

Cassel said a more permanent solution is needed.

“It appears there is a band aid solution to get us through that kind of crisis period,” he said.

The regional district is still figuring out what role it can play in any septic solution, and has invited Leq’á:mel to present its project at an upcoming meeting.

Smith said the first nation will likely preview its plans at a close-door FVRD meeting at the beginning of April, Smith said. The nation is also hoping to talk behind closed doors to other municipalities in the coming weeks.

Once the nation secures its permits, Smith said the Lackaway facility could be built within two years.

This story has been changed to clarify that the FVRD’s agreement with Metro Vancouver only allows for the transportation of waste from FVRD-owned sewage systems.