Scope of Work/Overview:
An environmental consultant’s review of the CBSA Boissevain lagoon system including the completion of an environmental act proposal to the Province of Manitoba Sustainable Development for a wastewater license. As part of that application the project would also establish required lagoon operational and maintenance requirements including and not limited to sampling parameters, sampling frequency, routine maintenance. Lastly the consultant would assess the life expectancy of the current system, note any deficiencies or future upgrades that maybe required c/w Class D estimates so CBSA can plan accordingly. Client requesting a full assessment as per below project objectives and has requested confirmation on things like what is feeding lagoon the POE building and Duty Free Shop...
The Wastewater Treatment Lagoon servicing CBSA Boissevain Border Crossing is located on provincial property. To be compliant with the Environment Act and Water and Wastewater Facilities Operators Regulations (Manitoba 77/2003), CBSA must submit an Environment Act Proposal to Manitoba Environment and Climate Change for approval and issuance of an Environmental Act License. The Environmental Act License is required by provincial regulations for the construction and operation of all wastewater treatment lagoons. Attached is a letter that was issued to CBSA from Manitoba Environment and Climate Change requiring them to initiate the licensing process for the Boissevain Wastewater Lagoon.
The Environmental Act Proposal must include an Environmental Assessment (EA) Report for the Wastewater Lagoon. As per the Licensing Procedures Regulation (Manitoba Regulation 163/88) the EA must include:
• Description of Development
- This must include a land title certificate, engineered drawings of the system, description of organic and hydraulic loading and hydraulic capacity of lagoon, description of liner or cutoffs, discharge route, operating cycle, maintenance plan, description of wastewater collection system and features such as gravity or low-pressure sewers.
•Description of Environment
- This must include a description of the surrounding land use, topography, vegetation, soil type, and wildlife.
- It must also cover the potential impact to waterway and provide a description of the flow regime, water quality, fish habitat and fish species within the receiving waterway.
- It must identify any water users and Water Rights licenses on the receiving waterway and describe the nature and location of any other wastewater treatment facilities that discharge in the waterway.
• Description of Environmental Effects
- This must include any effects on the terrestrial or aquatic environment resulting from operation of the wastewater lagoon.
- Water quality effects must specifically address biochemical oxygen demand, salts, nutrients, metals, and any other constituents in the wastewater that cannot be removed. Any water quality parameters that do not meet Manitoba Water Quality Standards, Objectives and Guidelines must be identified.
- Fish habitat effects must specifically address sedimentation, temperature and mortality.
• Mitigation and Residual Effects
- Description of practices to be employed to mitigate effects to terrestrial and aquatic environment during operation.
- Identification of practices to mitigate the impacts of nutrient loading in the receiving waterway. The assessment of nutrient reduction strategies must include effluent irrigation/ land application, operation and storage capacity including employing trickle discharge and vegetation harvesting, engineered/ constructed wetlands and chemical treatment.
- Description of follow-up monitoring for surface water and ground water protection.
The proposal and work plan submitted by EGIS includes all the necessary steps including a background review and in-field environmental assessment needed to prepare the EA report for the Environmental Act Proposal submission. It also includes completion of the capacity assessment including the LiDAR survey and ROV survey in order to determine the current and future hydraulic and organic loading to the lagoon as well as assess the remaining hydraulic and organic capacity of the lagoon as required in the Description of Development section of the EA report.
Site work to be completed before freeze up with report to follow in draft – final form.
FY25-26 - Consultant site assessment, draft and final study report c/w supporting documents.
