S-1060.1                   _______________________________________________

                                            SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8008

                              _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              53rd Legislature                             1993 Regular Session

By Senators Spanel, Haugen, Oke, Erwin, Snyder, Sellar, Franklin, Jesernig, McAuliffe, Sheldon, Skratek, Owen, M. Rasmussen, A. Smith, Quigley, Williams, Prentice, Pelz and Talmadge

Read first time 01/29/93.  Referred to Committee on Ecology & Parks.

Requesting that Victoria, British Columbia adopt a plan for treating its sewage.

          TO THE HONORABLE MICHAEL HARCOURT, PREMIER OF THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA, AND TO THE SPEAKER OF THE BRITISH COLUMBIA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY AND TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE:

          We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

          WHEREAS, The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a unique international waterway boundary between Canada and the United States; and

          WHEREAS, The Strait provides economic, social, and environmental linkage between the province of British Columbia and the state of Washington; and

          WHEREAS, The cities in the state of Washington have invested millions of dollars in protecting the quality of those waters by upgrading to secondary treatment of their wastewater before discharging it into the Strait of Juan de Fuca; and

          WHEREAS, In British Columbia, municipalities in the Victoria area currently discharge an estimated fifteen million gallons of untreated human and industrial waste into the Strait every day; and

          WHEREAS, The voters of greater Victoria rejected a referendum on November 21, 1992, that included options to build primary and secondary treatment facilities to address the environmental hazard created by those untreated wastes; and

          WHEREAS, The continued discharge of untreated wastes by the Capital Regional District poses an immediate risk to the environmental integrity of our shared waters; and

          WHEREAS, Previous diplomatic efforts by officials of both the state of Washington and the United States government have failed to secure a commitment from the Capital Regional District to remedy this situation within the foreseeable future;

          NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists ask that the Harcourt Administration and the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia require the Capital Regional District to adopt a plan for construction of at least primary treatment and, preferably, secondary treatment of its sewage; and

          Your Memorialists also ask that the government of British Columbia provide whatever assistance is necessary for a timely implementation of that plan.

          BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Michael Harcourt, Premier of British Columbia; the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly; and to each member of the Legislative Assembly.

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