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Esquimalt First Nation seeks help handling wastewater
Small community asks for higher capacity; CRD asks local municipalities to share some of theirs

Overhead image from Esquimaltnation.ca documents
In its Oct 9 meeting, the CRD Board called on members to approve its 2025 Core Area Wastewater Service operating and capital budget.
Updates to CRD’s wastewater management plan, also presented that morning, included a call for voluntary fiscal support for Esquimalt First Nation for costs related to its petition to increase its wastewater treatment capacity allocation.
What is the wastewater management plan?
The CRD’s updated Core Area Liquid Waste Management Plan (CALWMP) plan allows it and local governments to develop community-specific solutions for the management of liquid waste, stormwater and environmental protection in accordance with the BC Environmental Management Act. One key amendment to the CALWMP aims to reduce infiltration and inflow into the sewer system in the hopes of eliminating sewage overflow during storms at all facilities by 2030—except Clover Point, whose target date is 2045.
With the objective of lending support to its core area liquid waste management committee (CALWMC), the CRD formed a technical and community advisory committee in Oct. 2023 regarding amendments to the CALWMP.
On May 14, Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation were contacted and offered an opportunity to review and comment on this material (in their roles as participants in the CALWMP). The CRD is reporting that its staff have not yet received a response from either.
Esquimalt FN seeks extra capacity
But in the meantime, the CRD is responding to a recent petition from Esquimalt First Nation to review its request to double the First Nation's wastewater treatment allocation at the McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant (MPWWTP) from 70K litres per day to 140k litres per day. The First Nation reached 86% of its wastewater management capacity in 2023.
Other Westshore communities allocated capacity at McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment, in L/day: Colwood’s is 4.7 million, Langford’s is 14.2 million and View Royal’s is 3.45 million. Allocations for Victoria and Saanich allocations combined represent 66% of total capacity at McLoughlin, based on average dry weather flows.
A new allocation for Esquimalt FN would help it meet short and long-term development goals, based on potential future economic opportunities. In 2013, at the time allocations were apportioned, the development projections for Esquimalt Nation were not considered. The infrastructure gap describes the difference in infrastructure we see in Indigenous communities compared to the infrastructure we see in other Westshore communities.
Infrastructure limits can constrain First Nations’ development
Per an Oct. 9 CRD staff report to its core area liquid waste management committee, “First Nations have expressed concerns that their opportunities for economic development and housing for their members, already constrained by Indian Act-imposed barriers to on-reserve development and economic growth, are further limited by available water and wastewater servicing.”
The First Nations Financial Management Board Road Map Project report (2022) suggested infrastructure gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities are the result of government programs and policies consistently failing to recognize and respond to the evolving infrastructure needs of Indigenous communities.
The inequities can be reflective of barriers to the development of infrastructure that can lead to limited economic development and initiatives that could otherwise help pay for improvements.
Though its allocation represents only .06% of total treatment capacity at McLoughlin, community need at Esquimalt FN has clearly outpaced reality. Despite its small size, theFN has nearly surpassed its maximum wastewater allocation and at this point, the price tag for wastewater treatment capacity re-allocation is too hefty for it to pay alone.
The CRD has estimated the cost of the additional wastewater treatment capacity to be $2-3 for every litre/day (more specifically, $2-300,000 for every 0.1 megalitres/day). Based on this formula, the total cost of the additional 70k L/d for the First Nation is between $140,000 and $210,000.
To meet that end, it is making its petition to the CRD.
Esquimalt FN faces other sewage infrastructure challenges
The proposed negotiation comes as the FN is also facing additional infrastructure update costs for the Kosapsum Sewer Lift Station. In 2019, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) retained Kerr Wood Leidal (KWL) to conduct a detailed inflow and infiltration reduction and sewer lift station design.
Lift stations are used to move wastewater from lower to higher elevation, particularly where the elevation of the source is not sufficient for gravity flow. The KWL report suggested pump station upgrades or replacement and the de-concretization or replacement of key sewer pipes.
The redesign would help the First Nation reduce water pollution, minimize operation costs, meet current safety codes at the sewer lift station, and reduce the likelihood of sewer backups. Andy Orr, a spokesperson for the CRD, told the Westshore in an email that “Esquimalt First Nation owns and operates the Kosapsum Sewer lift Station, and it would be their responsibility to upgrade the station if required.”
The First Nation could apply to the federal FN Infrastructure Fund (FNIF) which helps First Nations communities upgrade public infrastructure and improve quality of life.
CRD asks other local governments to help out
Through a letter from Alicia Fraser, General Manager of Integrated Water Services, the CRD has asked member municipalities to consider transferring some of their allocated capacity voluntarily to reduce those costs for Esquimalt Nation. The CRD has given members until October 25th to respond. Once and only if the CRD has received positive responses from other members, the CRD will lead the negotiations of the reallocation of capacity across volunteer communities and Esquimalt First Nation.
At that time, Fraser would issue new waste discharge permits to those municipalities and Esquimalt Nation under Section 29 of the Environmental Management Act. Should no member volunteers step up to help foot the bill in response to Fraser’s letter, the CRD also has some options, beyond arbitration, to come up with the money to fulfill the petition, that according to Orr, could include submitting an application to the federal Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.