Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects .

4.0 Project Definition – How We Got HereA comprehensive study was done in 2008 and 2009that evaluated alternative options for future upgradingand expansion of the IIWWTP. This included variousscenarios for alternate treatment plant locations,including smaller distributed treatment facilities inthe VSA as well as other locations near xʷəyeyət(Iona Island) for a new centralized plant. Therecommendation from the study was to upgrade theprimary and secondary treatment processes at thecurrent IIWWTP location.The project definition phase was initiated in 2018adopting a multi-disciplinary integrated designprocess (IDP) supported by public and First Nationsengagement. The project definition team did amore recent review in late 2020 of alternate sites fora consolidated treatment plant and confirmed theconclusions of the earlier study. xʷəyeyət (Iona Island)remains the recommended location for the WWTPfrom a cost, risk and schedule perspective.In July 2021, the Board was provided informationon these challenges, updated cost estimates andschedule, as well as the work being undertakento address the identified challenges. This workincluded value engineering and a comprehensivechallenge review of the project definition by a teamof independent global experts, tasked with makingrecommendations to reduce costs and increase value.In November 2021, the Board endorsed a reviseddesign concept — based on recommendations fromthe challenge review — addressing the challengesidentified and showing a potential capital cost savingsof up to 10%. The Board also directed staff to finalizethe project definition report for Board approval inMarch 2022 and to hold a special Board meetingto receive and fully consider project information,including the costs.In July 2020, Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directorsendorsed an initial design concept, which includedtertiary level treatment for the new plant, resourcerecovery opportunities, integration with IonaBeach Regional Park, and a range of ecologicalprojects. With the transition of the projects to MetroVancouver’s new Project Delivery department atthat time, the focus shifted to updating the projectschedule and cost estimates, which included amore detailed assessment of constructability,risk, and delivery strategy. This identified severalchallenges, resulting in delayed project completionwith significantly higher than previously anticipatedestimated costs.8Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper

5.0 Reconciliation and First Nations EngagementMetro Vancouver is engaging 14 First Nationson the projects and is working closely with thexʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Indian Band, whoseprimary reserve lands are directly across the FraserRiver. Metro Vancouver has incorporated theecological priorities and interests shared with thedesign team by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) into theconceptual design.xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) priorities include: Supporting fish and fish habitat Designing xʷəyeyət (Iona Island) ecosystems thatsupport traditional harvestingReconciliation through Partnership: Breaching the jetties and causeway Allowing xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) access fortraditional resource use, cultural practices, andknowledge transfer Employment and apprenticeship trainingopportunities Ensuring the work plan extends beyond 2034 andconsiders future generationsMetro Vancouver and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam)are working together to identify economic anddevelopment opportunities for xʷməθkʷəy̓əm(Musqueam) Indian Band and its communitymembers. Metro Vancouver also regularly works withxʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) to review the projects andmultiple permitting requirements. Procurement opportunities for Musqueamowned and affiliated businesses Involvement in the development of ecologicalrestoration projects Developing a relationship agreement withMusqueam (currently underway)Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper9

6.0 Public and Stakeholder EngagementEngagement for the project definition phase began in 2018 and included member jurisdictions, the public, keystakeholders, and First Nations. Most recently, staff provided updates and sought feedback on aspects of theprojects that could be revised, based on the work undertaken to address the technical and budgetary challenges.A summary of all engagement activities will be presented to the GVS&DD Board as part of the final projectdefinition report in March 2022 and will include information on how Metro Vancouver is integrating feedbackreceived to inform the design of the treatment plant and ecological projects.Public engagement periods during the project definition phase were: 2018 to 2019 – Listen & Learn 2019 to 2021 – Initial Design Concept 2021 – Revised Design ConceptWho we talked oups61Businesses& institutionsnear Iona Island78Sewer areapermitholders1,270 Subscribersto the projectemail listWhat we did1,45328requests forhigher levelsof treatment21newspaper ads85letters toFirst Nations34meetingswith 13social mediaimpressionsmeetings withMusqueamIndian Band11,960 webpage visits114communitymeetingsand eventsPROJECT UPDATE@226community meetingparticipants19,799emails and newsletterssent to participantsWho we engaged with (2018 – 2021)10online publiccommentperiodIona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paperwith39participants

7.0 Project Description – Key ComponentsImplementing upgrades to the plant as required by law provides Metro Vancouver with an opportunity toimplement one of Canada’s most dynamic and transformative urban sustainability projects. The proposedconceptual design, as endorsed by the Board in November 2021, follows the goals outlined in the 2019-2022Board Strategic Plan (page 22) to manage our liquid waste, build resilience, ensure financial sustainability, andfoster collaboration and engagement.The IIWWTP Projects are made up of these key components and features: Early and enabling works Ground improvements Preliminary and primary treatment Secondary treatment Tertiary treatment and disinfection Solids treatment Odour control Operations and maintenance building (includingregional laboratory and welcome centre) Resource recovery opportunities (including biogasgeneration, reclaimed water distribution, districtenergy heating, and biosolids beneficial use) Future advanced treatment Ecological restoration projects (designed toimprove water quality, restore fish habitat, improveand protect bird habitat, and enhance terrestrialecosystems) Transportation and utility upgrades Integration with Iona Beach Regional Park andsurrounding communitiesProjects by the NumbersConcrete Volume: The Iona plant upgrades will require 240,000 m3 of concrete, which is equivalent to40,000 truckloads or a 40 m high layer on top of a football field.Rebar: The construction of the secondary treatment upgrades will require 32,000 tonnes of reinforcing steelbars, which if placed end to end would extend nearly halfway around the earth’s equator (18,700 km).Piles: The conceptual design assumes that over 80,000 tonnes of steel piles will be used to support newstructures and tanks constructed for the plant’s secondary upgrades.Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper11

Proposed WWTP upgrades – key componentsEarly and Enabling WorksGround ImprovementsSeveral early and enabling works projects arerequired to support the wastewater treatment plantupgrade construction and prepare the site. Theseinclude removal of the existing biosolids stockpiles,desludging of the current lagoons, access roadupgrades along Ferguson Road and the causeway,a barge berth for materials transportation duringconstruction, and electrical power upgrades for theupgraded plant and construction needs. In additionto being critical for the project schedule, theseindividual projects also have complex permitting andstakeholder engagement needs.Extensive and costly ground improvements arerequired across all infrastructure components tosupport the treatment plant upgrades because ofchallenging geotechnical conditions in the FraserRiver Delta. Ground improvements to meet seismicdesign considerations include stone columns, sitepreload, and an underground seismic barrier. Buildingand tank foundations will also include 60m-deep piles.These ground improvements allow the wastewatertreatment plant to withstand a large magnitudeearthquake while also accommodating future sea levelrise. The conceptual design shows the ground onwhich new components will be constructed raised to6.6 m above sea level, well beyond the level neededto address year 2100 sea level rise projections forthe area.Given the unique nature of the site, groundimprovements are estimated to be roughly 20% oftotal project costs across the following new treatmentprocesses they would support.12Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper

Simplified block flow diagram of proposed WWTP treatment processesPreliminary and Primary TreatmentThe existing xʷəyeyət (Iona Island) plant haspreliminary and primary treatment facilities thatare largely past their service life and do not meetcurrent seismic standards. This infrastructure must bereplaced and will be built concurrently with the newsecondary and tertiary treatment upgrades. Some ofthe existing plant infrastructure, specifically the solidtreatment facilities, will be refurbished and reused tohelp reduce initial capital costs.Preliminary treatment includes the screening andpumping of raw untreated wastewater followed byremoval of the grit that enters a wastewater treatmentplant from the sewer system. The materials removedby the screening process will be washed and truckedto the Metro Vancouver Waste-to-Energy facility andthe grit will either be processed for beneficial reuseon-site or hauled to a landfill.Flows from the preliminary treatment system inexcess of two times average dry weather flow will bediverted to cloth media filters for treatment to removesuspended solids and blended with filtered secondaryeffluent. The use of cloth media filters to treat wetweather flows is a recent innovative developmentin the industry and offers Metro Vancouver theadvantages of a small plant footprint, high treatmentefficiency, and low operations and maintenance costs.Up to two times average dry weather flow fromthe preliminary treatment system will flow to theprimary treatment system, which will be based onlamella clarifier technology. The purpose of primarytreatment is to remove organic carbon in the form ofsuspended solids. Lamella clarifiers employ inclinedplates to dramatically increase the surface settlingarea of the tanks, thereby significantly reducing plantfootprint requirements. The primary effluent from thelamella clarifiers will flow to the secondary treatmentprocess and primary sludge will be pumped to athickening process.Replacing the existing preliminary and primarytreatment components is estimated to be around 34%of the total project costs.Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper13

Secondary TreatmentTertiary Treatment and DisinfectionPrimary effluent will flow by gravity to the secondarytreatment process, which is intended to removesuspended, colloidal, and soluble organic mattercarried over in the primary effluent while achieving aminimum of seasonal nitrogen removal. Secondarytreatment includes both physical and biologicalprocesses that remove more than 90% per cent ofBOD and TSS, significantly reducing contaminants inthe effluent released into the local environment.Tertiary treatment involves advanced wastewatertreatment processes used to improve effluent qualitybeyond that achieved by secondary treatment.The type of tertiary treatment used at a treatmentplant depends primarily on the receiving watercharacteristics and the corresponding specificobjectives for that plant. Tertiary treatment can bedesigned to remove additional (i) colloidal solids,(ii) dissolved constituents and, (iii) nutrients such asammonia-nitrogen and phosphorus.As presented to the GVS&DD Board in November2021, the flexibility of two potential secondarytreatment technologies — either the MembraneBioreactor (MBR) or Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS)— will be evaluated further during the next phasesof design. Additional due diligence, to help ensurethe most cost-effective project is implemented,will include:undertaking a comprehensive pilot testing ofboth the MBR and AGS technologies to evaluatehow each performs based on expected operatingconditions at the IIWWTP and identify the besttechnology for the upgrades; and further advancing technical and commercialdiscussions with potential technology vendors. These steps will help to further refine the design, aswell as the expected performance and costs of thewastewater treatment process at the scale of theIIWWTP upgrade.The construction of new secondary treatment facilitiesis estimated to be 49% of the total project costs.This higher level of treatment is proposed at theIIWWTP to: further remove fine solids particles from the effluentreleased to the Salish Sea further reduce oxygen demand in the Salish Sea,whose deteriorating health is harming southernresident killer whales, and their habitat and foodsources remove additional contaminants of emergingconcern, which are being considered for futureregulation by the provincial Ministry of Environmentand Climate Change Strategy address concerns expressed by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm(Musqueam), other First Nations, environmentalgroups, and residents of Metro VancouverThe wastewater effluent will be disinfected usingultraviolet (UV) treatment before being pumped to theSalish Sea through the existing deep sea outfall.The addition of tertiary treatment, including dual usefor treating wet weather flows and UV disinfection,accounts for about 3% of total project costs.Contaminants of Emerging ConcernThe existing primary treatment process at the IIWWTP removes minimal persistent organic compounds, suchas contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). These are particularly concerning because of their potentialimpacts on the receiving environment. Secondary treatment processes significantly improve the removal ofsome CECs by 20–40%.14Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper

Solids TreatmentWastewater plants include treatment of both theliquid wastewater and the treatment of the solidsremoved from the wastewater, before beneficial reuseand disposal. To reduce capital costs, much of theexisting solids treatment facilities at IIWWTP will berefurbished and reused. However, additional solidstreatment infrastructure, including two new mesophilicanaerobic digesters, need to be built to treat theadditional solids removed from the liquid wastestream by upgrading from primary to secondary andtertiary levels of treatment.A key planning decision has been to reuse as muchof the existing solids treatment infrastructure atIIWWTP as possible to reduce costs and allow forfuture consideration of new technologies to expandor replace aging solids treatment process units,potentially involving integrating hydrothermalprocessing which is currently being pilot-tested byMetro Vancouver.Odour ControlIn the conceptual design, odour emissions from thenew plant are controlled using prevention, containment,treatment, and dispersion through upgraded odourcontrol treatment systems. These measures will resultin a significant reduction in odour experienced byxʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) community members,Iona Beach Regional Park users, and nearby residentsand businesses.Operations and Maintenance (O&M)BuildingThe upgraded treatment plant will require roughlydouble the number of O&M staff as that needed forthe existing primary level facilities. The O&M buildingis the operational centre of the plant, complete withupgraded and expanded electrical, maintenanceand instrumentation shops, as well as a new controlssystem and staff working space. The facility willinclude a new regional laboratory for analyzingwastewater and treatment plant performance,including new technologies to help improveefficiencies and reduce overall regional laboratorycosts. Located near the plant entrance, the buildingwill include a publically accessible space serving as aWelcome Centre, that will also provide an opportunityto showcase xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) culture.Resource Recovery OpportunitiesMaximizing resource recovery and opportunitiesto reduce greenhouse gas emissions are key goalsconsidered throughout the project definition phases.The conceptual design includes resource recoveryopportunities that help support the region’s carbonneutrality objectives, including: Reclaimed water from the plant could be usedfor irrigation (e.g. golf courses) or to replenishfreshwater wetlands, with opportunities to usenutrients from the plant to meet the ecologicalneeds of the receiving ecosystems. Biosolids generated from the wastewater treatmentprocesses could be used as a soil amendmentfor upland habitat restoration projects, with thepotential to use biosolids and reclaimed water foron-site native plant propagation, if deemed feasible. Biogas produced in the digestion process wouldcontinue to be captured and used at the plant togenerate heat and power for the plant operations.Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Projects – Conceptual Design: Background Paper15

Biomethane (renewable natural gas), converted from biogas, could be sold to FortisBC and injected into thenatural gas grid to avoid the consumption of other higher carbon fossil fuels. Excess heat from the treated wastewater could be used as a heat source for offsite district energy facilities.Heat would be supplied to these offsite facilities through an effluent pipeline distribution system that couldalso serve reclaimed water reuse.The resource recovery initiatives included in the project cost estimates are about 4% of total project capital costs.The cost estimate includes resource recovery at the wastewater treatment plant itself and the infrastructureto support a future effluent pipeline distribution system that could be used for both district energy fac

The Iona Island Wastewater Treatment Plant (IIWWTP or 'the plant') is a primary treatment facility that serves approximately 750,000 residents in the Vancouver Sewerage Area (VSA). The existing treatment facility is one of . ecological priorities and interests shared with the design team by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) into the