Business View - December 2014 133
ent removal plant for waste water treatment recently
came on line and is at 50 percent capacity these days,
with further expansion expected over the next five or
10 years.
The county’s solid waste approach has changed from
multiple landfill sites to fewer entities, and initiatives
are on the drawing board for converting biomass to
energy or anaerobic digestion. Recycling has been
pushed hard in recent months and years as well, with
a goal set for 2020 that would result in an 80-percent
reduction of the waste stream that ultimately reaches
the landfill.
Additionally, 15 kilometers of local roads have re-
cently been paved and some have had lighting, side-
walks and walking trails added. Future plans include
the base paving of a road stretching 21 kilometers
through an environmentally and historically sensitive
area along the lake, connecting the hamlets of Lac La
Biche and Plamondon, which would significantly re-
duce the amount of gravel and silt being introduced to
the local watershed.
Also, the recycling and crushing of used concrete into
aggregate for base-building has begun and will be uti-
lized more frequently going forward.
“We need to keep our eye on the long term, and some-
times that’s difficult because little fires pop up and
you have to address the fires,” Lawrence said. “But we
want to stay big picture and we want to stay priority.
We are working toward developing plans that will carry
us into the next 10 or 20 years and use those as a
guideline and try to stay to them as close as we can.
“We need to keep that team relationship open.”
PUBLIC SECTOR
