Even with assurances of working together to find a solution, and even with the announcement of new funding, Christa Zacharias-Homer still feels Spallumcheen is a community divided.
Zacharias-Homer, deputy director for the provincial Ministry of Environment’s regional operations branch, is the lead official on the Hullcar aquifer water quality issue in the township. She helped organize a two-and-a-half hour public meeting Friday night at Hullcar Hall that drew close to 90 people.
On hand were officials with the Inter Ministry Working Group which has been working to identify the cause of nitrates found in the aquifer which led to a water quality advisory being issued nearly three years ago, and which remains in effect, as well as a boil water advisory for those with private wells in the affected area.
The water quality advisory affects members of Splatsin First Nation and the Steele Springs Water District, whose chairperson, Brian Upper, said Thursday that the latest Interior Health samples showed the nitrate levels at 15.5 Parts Per Million (PPM), the highest levels ever recorded in the district.
After working group officials presented and took questions from the floor, and reiterated their thoughts nearly two hours after the meeting began, Zacharias-Homer shrugged her shoulders when it was her turn to talk.
“What I heard in April (at first public meeting) and what I heard tonight is a community in turmoil,” said Zacharias-Homer. “I hear about your Sunday morning pancake breakfasts at this hall and what we hear is when you come to the hall, you’re all divided. That’s really hard to hear.
“What’s going to need to happen to correct nitrates in the Hullcar aquifer is to have everyone join together. Everyone has to start supporting everybody else.”
Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo started the evening saying the aim is to return the Hullcar aquifer to a healthy state though it will take some time, likely in the neighbourhood of seven-to-10 years.
To help start things along, Kyllo’s government announced Friday afternoon, before the public meeting, that $950,000 is being provided to support alternative drinking water sources, fund treatment for domestic well users and support sustainable, environmentally farming in the Hullcar Valley.
“Our government has remained focused on addressing the water quality issue for Hullcar Valley residents and the Splatsin,” said Kyllo. “By ensuring access to safe drinking water through this funding, we are able to alleviate the stress for those living under a drinking water advisory.”
Working group officials Orlando Schmidt (agriculture), Dave Thomson (forests) and Dennis Einarson (environment) provided a power point on the group’s Phase I and II action plans, and the highlights of monitoring study results and three environmental impact studies.
Resident Sylvia Lindgren said all she heard was talk; no action.
“All I saw up there (pointing to presentation) was ‘think, talk, meet, review, monitor.’ No action. No action at all,” said Lindgren.
Schmidt said the group will carry forward with its action plans with four main goals in mind, the top priority being to provide safe drinking water for Steele Springs and Hullcar aquifer residents with nitrate levels consistently below six PPM.
“We want to be building public trust by demonstrating that multiple ministries are working together for the citizens of B.C.,” said Schmidt. “We also want to determine scientifically and as accurately as posssible the sources of nitrate in the Hullcar aquifer.”
Splatsin Chief Wayne Christian said testing should be done for more than just nitrates.
“We’re talking human health,” he said. “The health of our people, your people, children, the old ones. We need to get a little more diligent in what we’re actually testing. If this has been going on for two decades, what else is going on with the water?”
Spallumcheen Mayor Janice Brown, while happy with the funding announcement, said the township will work with an engineer to find out what the best alternate source is for residents.
“Before we get the funding, we have to know all of that. It’s all technical,” said Brown. “We need consultants and engineers to get safe drinking water to the residents.”
Upper – who agreed with Zacharias-Homer about the emotional turmoil going on – said Steele Springs won’t stop working towards clean, safe drinking water.
“Because of the long-term that we’re facing to get the aquifer to be clean,” he said. “We want to be part of the solution to the aquifers. We want to be in on the discussion on how things happen as far as correcting what’s happening on these farms. Over-application (of manure) has to stop.”
Fingers have been pointed for years to one particular large dairy farm operation above the Hullcar aquifer as the source of the nitrates, and there were concerns just two weeks ago when a manure lagoon breached a dairy farm on Salmon River Road.
Lumby’s Phil Owen, a dairy producer and director with the Kamloops Okanagan Dairymen’s Association and the B.C. Dairy Association, stood behind the farm in question and its “field of concern.”
“We feel the farm, while vilified in the local press, has been outwardly compliant with all government testing,” said Owen. “We’re glad to hear the government has taken the appropriate steps providing funding for alternate and permanent sources of water for Steele Springs and surrounding residents.”
However, Al Price, co-chairperson of the Save Hullcar Aquifer Team, said there really aren’t any alternate water sources.
“We’re going to drill a well deep into an already contaminated aquifer,” said Price, who called for a moratorium on the spreading of liquid manure to all fields in the Hullcar Valley.
“We feel the underground piping system is simply moving the problem in the Hullcar Valley from one place to another, possibly several other places.”
Price also agreed with Zacharias-Homer’s assertion that everyone has to work together.
“We’re starting to do that, but why, in the name of God, do we have to fight our government so hard to protect drinking water?” he said. “That’s unconscionable.”
Zacharias-Homer concluded the meeting vowing the working group’s work is not done.
“We’ve heard your comments. We’ll go back, collect our thoughts and maybe tweak our action but continue to move forward,” she said.