The new sewage treatment plant in Dawson City, Yukon, is up and running after many lengthy delays.

The former sewage treatment plant created controversy when the city pleaded guilty to dumping inadequately treated sewage into the Yukon River. Dawson City has been under a court order to build a new facility since 2003.

Peter Jenkins, mayor of Dawson City, Yukon, stands in front of the city's new sewage treatment plant. Jenkins is concerned about how much the innovative facility will cost to run. (CBC)

An initial plan was derailed in 2008 when Dawson City voters rejected the proposed location of an aboveground sewage lagoon. Construction of the new plant got underway in 2009, but legal issues delayed completion.

One of the unique features of the new plant is the two vertical shafts that go more than 90 metres deep, which take the place of more commonly-used aboveground lagoons. Microbes and oxygen treat the waste in the shafts.

"The former treatment plant deals with screening of sewage only; this has more than just screening,” said Pat Habiluk with the Yukon Department of Public Works and Highways.

“It screens the sewage, adds air to the sewage, removes inorganic materials, and then it provides ultraviolet treatment to the effluent that goes out to the river."

The ultraviolet light kills any harmful material that might remain before the water goes out to the river.

The project manager for the company hired to build the plant said there aren't many of its kind in North America.

“In the country there [are] only a handful of them,” said Sean Twomey, project manager with Corix Systems. “A lot of plants going up like this are actually in China.”

Mayor worried about operating costs

Dawson has met its obligation but the mayor is concerned about how much it’s going to cost to operate the plant in the future.

"This could be the most expensive outhouse in the Yukon,” said Peter Jenkins, mayor of Dawson City.

"This was the most expensive option to construct and the resulting [operation and maintenance budget] was supposed to be in the neighbourhood of $280,000 a year. That's probably the city's biggest concern," he said. "The [operation and maintenance] will be double that if not more, probably bouncing off the bottom end of a million dollars a year."

Corix Water Systems will continue to test the plant for the next year while training Dawson City staff to operate the plant next summer.