Sludge Watch ==> BC Greenhouse: A PLAN TO PRODUCE HEAT, RECYCLED WATER FROM WASTE

[Maureen Reilly]

GOING GREEN: A PLAN TO PRODUCE HEAT, RECYCLED WATER FROM WASTE

Daffodil grower's housing proposal puts sewage to work
SHANNON MONEO

Special to The Globe and Mail

November 21, 2007

VICTORIA -- Canada's largest daffodil grower is giving a new meaning to 
"green thumb" as it plans one of B.C.'s first developments that would 
produce heat and recycled water from a mix of farm waste and household 
sewage.

Vantreight Farms, which grows 18 million daffodils each year, has proposed 
an upscale 264-unit development on 13 hectares of its rocky, fallow land 
with sweeping ocean views.

The $150-million project is near Vantreight's 1.2 hectares of greenhouses, a 
huge warehouse and fields in Central Saanich, about 15 kilometres north of 
Victoria.

"It's a zero-waste development," said Ryan Vantreight, 30, the fifth 
generation to farm the 142 hectares of land owned by the family.


"Hopefully, I'll leave a greener farm for my son," Mr. Vantreight said.

Earlier this year, initial development plans were met with opposition from 
people concerned about disappearing farmland and concentrated development in 
the rural area.

So Mr. Vantreight and his father Ian, 56, hired consultant Chris Corps to 
create a green scheme.

"In a nutshell, it's making sewage sexy," said Mr. Corps. "Poop has never 
been sexy."

Sewage, which is what goes down household drains, is a wasted resource, Mr. 
Corps said. "We're looking at it in the wrong way."

In his proposal, the 31 single-family homes, 92 townhouses and 141 
condominiums each have a "purple pipe" that directs water from the bathtub 
or kitchen sink to the toilet bowl to be reused. Household sewage would be 
treated at an off-site plant.

B.C.'s sewage is hot stuff, with an average temperature of 17 C, Mr. Corps 
said. The project would use heat exchange technology to draw concentrated 
heat from sewage and pipe it to Vantreight's greenhouses, the homes or 
nearby facilities.

"I hate to use the word sewage mining, but you'll get heat and biogas," Mr. 
Corps said.

The homes would have green roofs as attractive insulation, and living walls 
that feature trailing plants on the exteriors.

At Vantreight Farm, runoff would be collected for irrigation or to create 
creeks or waterfalls at the neighbouring development.

Organic farm waste, such as compost and manure, would be converted into 
biogas.

Farms in the heavily agricultural area could bring their leftovers to the 
Vantreight site for conversion, Ian Vantreight said.

If the plan is put into place, greenhouse gases will be substantially 
reduced, he added.

Central Saanich council has yet to approve the proposal.

"When it came to council the first time, the message delivered to Mr. [Ian] 
Vantreight was that it would be an uphill battle of which he is aware," said 
Central Saanich Councillor Robert Thompson. "Whether or not it's green or 
super-green may or may not make a difference to this council."

The land isn't zoned for a high-density development, and Central Saanich 
council isn't eager to amend its community plan, which would expand the 
urban reach of the 16,000-person, 41-square-kilometre community, Mr. 
Thompson said

An online petition against the development has collected almost 200 
signatures. Some respondents believe the land is in the protected 
Agricultural Land Reserve but Ian Vantreight disagrees.

"I've made the commitment that I will not develop land that is farmed or is 
farmable," he said.

Tonight, the Vantreights will pitch their green vision to Central Saanich's 
planning committee.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071121.BCDAFFODIL21/TPStory/National