Sewage trucking plan raises stink in Banff
BANFF — Every day, Town of Banff resource recovery driver Jud Fillman unlocks a gate and drives a truck filled with food waste from homes and restaurants down the road past the Banff Springs Golf Course to the town’s treatment facilities.
Another truck with cement dust from the Lefarge and Greymont plants near Exshaw brings waste a few times a week.
The materials are then mixed with Banff’s treated sewage — known as biosolids — to turn it into a nutrientrich fertilizer called N-Rich that’s used by a Strathmore company to grow trees and sod.
“It’s not a Dunkin’ Donuts factory, but it’s something we’re really proud of,” said Paul Godfrey, operations manager for the Town of Banff. “Every community in the developed world deals with biosolids.
“We are taking previously landfilled materials, blending them together and creating a beneficial reuse product.”
The so-called N-Viro facility, however, isn’t being used to its full capacity so the Town of Banff has approached Parks Canada with a proposal to determine whether Canmore could truck its biosolids to the plant for processing.
It’s causing quite a stink in the national park as the towns of Banff and Canmore lobby the federal agency to allow the expansion.
During a recent parks planning forum, Canmore Mayor John Borrowman said the neighbouring town is interested in sending its waste to the Banff facility — rather than truck it to Penhold in central Alberta at a cost of about $400,000 annually.
The superintendent of Banff National Park responded that they are considering the proposal, but noted there are some concerns.
“The facility is located at the end of the golf course road right by the sewage treatment plant,” said Dave McDonough. “It’s important to us we don’t increase the truck traffic, and they have some proposals in the works that could mitigate that.”
The road to the facility, which goes past the picturesque Banff Springs Golf Course, is closed to the public in the winter to allow wildlife such as wolves and cougars to roam freely through the area. Elk also spend much of the winter in the area.
“It’s an area where we restrict access in the winter because it’s important wildlife corridor and winter habitat,” McDonough explained. “So we want to be careful in terms of how much traffic goes on that road, and also work with the Fairmont Banff Springs.
“So there are some nuances we have to work through and see how it plays out.”
McDonough wasn’t available for further comment on Friday, but said in an emailed statement that Parks Canada is waiting for more information on the town’s proposal and any public concerns before they make a decision.
Godfrey said the town has a plan to reduce the number of times — called disturbance events — that a truck would drive down the road.
“If we were able to bring Canmore’s in, we would reassign the disturbance events,” he said, noting they would store Banff’s food waste and have Fillman truck it into the facility on a weekly rather than a daily basis.
They would also try to haul waste in the middle of the night — both to reduce disturbing golfers during the day and wildlife during the critical dawn and dusk hours.
“We believe we can process Canmore and Banff at approximately the same levels as current levels,” he said.
Godfrey called it a sustainable, regional solution to a waste problem.
“The Bow Valley and ecosystems associated with it don’t end at the east gate,” he said. “Canmore and Banff share all sorts of things: we share airspace, we share waterways, we share transportation corridors, we share wildlife corridors and what we are proposing is that this is a regional waste solution that benefits all.”
Borrowman added that it’s part of Canmore’s long-term vision on being sustainable in the Bow Valley.
“We’re patiently waiting for a decision so we can start doing it or planning our own project.