The City of Hamilton's new sewage treatment facility was officially opened yesterday by Mayor Lawson Mapp.

Costing $7.5 million, the state of the art facility should serve the needs of the City - and surrounding areas - as well as cruise ships, for at least the next 50 years, said Roger Sherratt, the Corporation's Secretary.

"It's the biggest project the Corporation has undertaken and one of the most expensive," Mr. Sherratt said.

The Corporation had to borrow about $3 million to build the facility, which is directly opposite the SuperMart grocery store, about 80 yards from the old pumping station.

Asked what accounted for the $7.5 million price tab, he said that a lot of equipment had been purchased and state of the art technology was being utilised. The area - originally used as a container dock facility - had to go through a complete reorganisation, which included moving the car park and reorganising the electricity supply, he added.

And part of the building is actually 20 foot below sea level.

At least half of the sewage treated by the facility will come from major buildings outside the City limits, including the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel, ACE/XL headquarters, CedarBridge Academy, the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Tynes Bay incinerator and the Police headquarters at Prospect.

The old pumping station on Front Street, facing Court Street, had served the City's sewage treatment needs since 1910, and while it was still in working order it had become difficult to get spare parts.

"We had to build a new pumping station," Mr. Sherratt said. "In order to do that we looked 50 years ahead."

The Front Street location was necessary, he added, because the sewage is fed to the station by gravity and it was designed to be `as attractive as possible' given the fact that it is a utility building right on Front Street.

Long term plans for the future treatment of sewage includes the possibility of building a secondary system on the South Shore and drilling a pipe to a point outside the reefs.

Canadian company Associated Engineering International designed the facility. It uses four pumps to provide 200 percent redundancy, and a back up power generator. Sewage goes through a screening system to sort out the solid matter which is then washed and packed for disposal at Tynes Bay incinerator.

Another system cleans the air using activated carbon tubs and blows it out through the roof of the building.

"There should be no odour outside the building," Mr. Sherratt said. Two years in the making, testing of the facility began six weeks ago and went without a hitch.