Shuswap school district fined $5,000 for failed sewage testing

A Shuswap elementary school's sewage system went untested more than a dozen times in a year, leading to a $5,000 from the province this month.

Sorrento Elementary School has its own sewage treatment system, but the school district lapsed on testing the ground where the system expels its waste from around 250 students and 40 staff members.

On Dec. 7, the Ministry of Environment levied a $5,044 penalty against School District 58, which covers the North Okanagan-Shuswap region.

The school is 250 metres from the shores of Shuswap Lake, where it's had the sewage system for 25 years, according to ministry documents.

Each month, the school district is required to test effluent samples and measure the groundwater depth, along with a testing the groundwater every three months. In total, the school district missed 22 of those tests from April 2021 to August 2022, according to the ministry.

According to the ministry, there have been "impacts" on the groundwater in the area. While the source of the "impacts" isn't known, the missing data would have helped better understand how the environment is being affected.

The school district told the ministry it's changed its software and ordering systems to ensure staff are regularly contracting someone to test the groundwater and treated school sewage. Tests have been consistent since September 2022.

School District 58 was given 30 days to pay the $5,000 fine.

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