City of Kamloops searching for long-term solution to biosolids

Dec 11, 2018 | 3:43 PM

KAMLOOPS — Last Friday it was announced the city had reached an agreement with Arrow Transport and the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band (LSLIB) on a short-term solution to the management of biosolids produced in Kamloops.

The two-year contract is worth nearly $4.5 million dollars and will involve trucking the processed biosolids to a composting facility on the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band lands. Jen Fretz, Civic Operations Director with the City of Kamloops, says the contract will not only allow the city to deal with the over 12-and-a-half thousand tonnes of new biosolids we’re producing each year, but it will also deal with the more than 23,000 tonnes of biosolids currently stockpiled.

“The community was really concerned about direct land application so one of the things we really tried to do with this contract is… really try to understand what possibilities are out there. What can we do with biosolids beyond direct land application?” Fretz told CFJC Today. “We’re happy to be able to say that we’re going to be compositing biosolids and that finished compost will have no restrictions and can be used anywhere.”

Fritz says the partnership between the city, Arrow, and the LSLIB was the best possible option to deal with the excess material the city had stockpiled because both organizations had the right personnel in place to ensure that the biosolids were going to be dealt with in accordance with the best possible environmental practices.

“The LSLIB, through this contract, has an expert environmental professional, as well as Arrow having their own environmental professionals on board, so essentially we have a double check going on to make sure we have all of the – both the composting work and the finished compost use is all done according to regulations,” Fretz explained.

While this contract will help deal with the city’s output of biosolids in the short term, Fretz says the city is still searching for a long-term solution to the biosolids question.