Opposition to pollution from Kelowna fruit packing plant growing

Despite a history of warnings and fines dating back to 2019, the Sandher Fruit Packers plant just outside Kelowna city limits in the Ellison area continues to dump pollutants.

On Feb. 2, the Ministry of Environment ordered the fruit packers to stop dumping or get an “authorization to discharge.”

Rather than stop, Sandher applied on March 4 for permission to keep on dumping.

“The citizens of Ellison are appalled at this application, especially given Sandher’s long history of failing to obtain proper permitting or comply with Ministry of Environment regulations,” Alexandra Wright wrote in an email to politicians, the Ministry of Environment, Agricultural Land Commission and media.

She invited them all to a community meeting at Sweet Cherry Stables at 2570 Old Vernon Rd. at 6 p.m. today, March 19.

An online petition opposing the application has gained almost 700 signatures since it was launched March 13.

"Applicants for new waste discharge permits need to notify regional districts, post a notice at the site, and publish a notice in the local newspaper," the Ministry of Environment said in an email. "Under the Environmental Management Act, anyone who may be adversely affected by the permit may . . . notify the Province in writing about how they could be affected. This would be considered in the decision-making process, and contact information is available in public notices."

The Feb. 2 order also says the issue has been referred for an administrative penalty but there is still no decision yet on what that will be.

In 2019, the facility on the corner of Old Vernon Road and Scotty Creek Road was issued a warning for illegal discharge of waste water.

There have been a number of other inspections and warnings and in 2022 the plant was charged $32,000 for illegal discharge.

“The effluent discharge is wastewater from the fruit washing and packing process,” the Ministry of Environment email says.

The February investigation listed phosphates and bleaches among the chemicals used in the plant.

READ MORE: Here’s what’s been leaching from a Kelowna fruit packing plant for years

“The water being discharged smells distinctly of sewage,” Wright wrote. “Presumably someone at the Ministry of Environment is in the process of independently verifying the composition of the water being discharged.”

While the plant is in the regional district, Kelowna city councillors are invited to the meeting because this is one of three environmental concerns in the neighbourhood, she wrote.

Wright has an agricultural property downhill and across Old Vernon Road from Sandher that borders on the Russo Sawmill site.

She has a lawsuit pending against one of those neighbouring property owners and the operator of a soil remediation operation on that site. They are countersuing.

READ MORE: Kelowna trucking company tired of being bad guy in clean-up of old sawmill site

The other property has an Agricultural Land Commission stop work order against it.

Wright is also the Conservative Party of BC’s candidate for the Kelowna-Mission provincial riding.

Kelowna Lake Country MP Tracy Gray is being invited to the meeting because she has been photographed with Sandher employees advocating for the packing house, according to Wright.

“If you are prepared to advocate for some farmers, then I hope you are prepared to advocate for the other farmers that they are affecting,” Wright’s email said.

There are photos on Gray's Facebook page of a 2021 community agriculture tour that included Sandher Fruit Packers.

No one from Sandher responded to a request for an interview with iNFOnews.ca.

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