MILL BAY — Heavy metals concentrations up to 19 times greater than samples taken upstream were found in sediments downstream from a Vancouver Island landfill site approved by the B.C. Environment Ministry for up to five million tonnes of contaminated soil. Thorium, lead, niobium, zirconium, vanadium and 13 other metals including chromium, iron, tin and cobalt were reported by B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver as he stole the show at an information meeting staged for Shawnigan Lake residents by ministry technical staff. The Thursday evening meeting informed residents about the province’s permitting process, how it classifies risk and what its tests found at the primary site in a repurposed abandoned quarry (Lot 23) and at an adjacent property (Lot 21) where soil has already been dumped for later use to backfill the quarry. Ministry staff said analysis of groundwater, surface water, sediments and soil sample taken on May 13 failed to find anything that exceeded provincial drinking water or aquatic life guidelines at any levels which caused concern. Ministry regional director Aaron Downie said that while some groundwater tests showed elevated levels of arsenic and soil sampling found some marginal elevations of zinc, all were within provincial safety margins. He said monitoring would continue. But Weaver’s results blew a hole in the presentation that government testing had found nothing of concern entering a watershed supplying 12,000 people with drinking water. Weaver, the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head and an internationally known climate scientist, posted his results and methodology on his website (bit.ly/1Oldv5p). His tests examined enrichment factors, a tool widely used in determining metals pollution that measures degrees of concentration relative to normal occurrence. Weaver sampled Shawnigan Creek upstream from the contaminated soils facility and downstream from the Lot 21 site. It was apparent when he visited that “substantial amounts” of building materials had been deposited at Lot 21. “There was also clear evidence that run-off from this site failed drinking water standards at the point of entry with Shawnigan Creek. And visually, this water looked nothing like any other water in nearby surface and running water.” Enriched metal values in sediments downstream from Lot 21 suggest a source within the site and provided “very clear evidence of heavy metals.” “What, if anything, has been buried on Lot 21 that could produce thorium, lead and other heavy metal enrichment in the sediments?” he asked the Environment Ministry. Weaver said the province had a duty and a responsibility to find out. Provincial technical staff had no answer and kept to their talking points. . Audience members wanted to know what accumulated leaching from the site might mean over the 50-year life of the project. They were told by provincial staff that contaminated soil now stockpiled on a paved apron hasn’t yet been deposited into the quarry, which is to be sealed with a composite liner, so they couldn’t yet say. “People want core sampling because there is 250 feet of fill on Lot 21 and sampling the top 50 centimetres doesn’t really provide an accurate picture,” said Sonia Furstenau, Cowichan Valley Regional District director for Shawnigan Lake. “Also because Andrew’s samples — which show what is leaching out of Lot 21 — suggest contamination that is consistent with what former employees have said, that all manner of industrial fill has been dumped on Lot 21, including car parts. “I think Ministry of Environment sampling has been woefully inadequate given that we are talking about a site at the headwaters of a community drinking watershed and on top of an aquifer.” In a statement from Cobble Hill Holdings Limited, owner of the site managed by South Island Aggregates Limited, president Michael Kelly said his company was pleased to get a clean bill of health from the Environment Ministry. “Shawnigan Residents Association’s directors are continuing to look for a bogey man under the bed,” Kelly said. “And once again the testing results of today have proven squarely that he does not exist.” Kelly’s statement didn’t mention Weaver’s report. But Lori Hall, the assistant deputy minister responsible for environmental protection, told the meeting that as any new evidence came to light, the ministry would consider it. “That includes MLA Weaver’s sampling.”

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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