Keeping watch on the purity of B.C. watershed

MARK HUME Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Dec. 07, 2009

As he tramped through the mountains above Vernon, B.C., Randy Schellenberg became convinced something was wrong with the water. Now he's got the lab tests to prove it. Mr. Schellenberg, a member of a group called the Citizens' Coalition to Save Silver Star Provincial Park, has long objected to the way the Silver Star Mountain Resort has been expanding. The ski resort, which is increasingly popular because of its fabulous powder snow and its charming village, has been adding condos steadily for the past decade. The sewage lagoons, of course, have grown to keep pace. And that has caused Mr. Schellenberg to worry because the lagoons are perched at the top of two community watersheds. Down slope is Coldstream Creek and aquifers that provide drinking water to outlying areas of Vernon. Tests by the resort and by the Ministry of Environment in an area known as Noble Canyon have long indicated that pollutants weren't endangering Coldstream Creek.

But Mr. Schellenberg wasn't convinced - so he walked the watershed above and below the canyon, collecting samples over several months. When a lab analyzed those samples, he found "a mysterious spike" in nitrates in Coldstream Creek above Noble Canyon. He also found underground springs in the area - and some of those are polluted, too. In Noble Canyon itself, the water quality is good. But he said that appears to be because some other streams run in, diluting the pollutants. Mr. Schellenberg also notes a curious correlation between the highest nitrate readings and the increased use of the sewage lagoons. The nitrate levels climb in December through February (going up to nearly 5 milligrams per litre from about 1.5 mg/L), the period that Silver Star resort is busiest and the sewage lagoons are at maximum use. After getting numerous water samples tested, Mr. Schellenberg last week wrote to Interior Health and the Greater Vernon Water Utility to alert them to "a possible public health hazard that has recently been identified" in the community aquifer. "I believe it would be in the public interest to post health warnings," he wrote, and asked that a dye trace study be undertaken to identify the source of the pollutants. Mr. Schellenberg's readings are well below the 10 mg/L level that would raise health concerns, but he thinks the public should be made aware of the situation and the source should be found.

Silver Star resort did not respond to a request for comment. Al Cotsworth, manager of the Greater Vernon Water District, said a community well, Antwerp Well 1, does have increased nitrate levels, but at an average of 1.88 mg/L over the past year, it is well within Canadian drinking water standards, and tests indicate water quality is improving. He does not, however, think everything is okay. "Well, it's certainly waving a flag at us," he said of the presence of nitrates. "So we've increased our monitoring to a weekly basis just to make sure we don't get caught out on anything." Mr. Cotsworth said there are a lot of potential sources for the nitrates in the aquifer, including cattle, and the fertilizers used on local crops. "We have a hydrogeologist we go to for review and they've indicated it's a pretty low probability that much of that nitrate is coming from the Silver Star area because of the relatively high nitrates in the area in general," he said.

Lannea Parfitt, public health communications officer with Interior Health, said because the nitrate levels do not violate national drinking water guidelines, "there is no need for an immediate health warning to be issued." Interior Health expects the Greater Vernon Water District to monitor things, and if the nitrate levels ever do violate the drinking water standards, action would have to be taken. On the one hand, the public can take comfort in knowing that both Interior Health and the Greater Vernon Water District are keeping a watchful eye on the quality of the water filtering out of Silver Star park.

On the other hand, surely someone beside Mr. Schellenberg should be alarmed by the nitrate levels in the underground springs and in Coldstream Creek, which flows into beautiful Kalamalka Lake. The water running out of the mountains should be pure. And the nitrate spike that occurs in the middle of winter - during the peak of ski season - calls for a government investigation. The source of the pollution should be identified and the problem corrected before it becomes a public health hazard, not after.