‘Threat to human health’: Shuswap RV resort’s sewage spills net $60,000 fine
A Shuswap sewage system that spilled up to 5,000 times the allowable fecal bacteria at a lakefront resort has been fined nearly $60,000.
The province slapped the company tasked with managing a wastewater system at Blind Bay Resort with the fine on Nov. 12. Jaydan Ventures Inc. was supposed to maintain the facility, which saw continuous spills over a year-and-a-half, according to a Ministry of Environment enforcement report.
"The magnitude of these exceedances indicate that the facility has failed to treat effluent in any measurable way," the report reads.
The ministry report notes that sewage was dumped into its disposal field, but it surfaced and reached at least the property fence line. Less than half a kilometre from the shores of Shuswap Lake and several private wells, the ministry said the pollution is a "very serious threat to human health" and "undermines the basic integrity of the overarching regulatory regime."
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Blind Bay Resort has 75 RV sites, an eight-room motel and nine, two-bedroom cabins. There is also a pool, a restaurant and a laundromat, along with some stores, according to the report.
Sewage tested at the facility blew past allowable pollution limits dozens of times from November 2022 to May 2024, according to the report. Though the measurements varied widely in that time, they peaked with fecal coliforms, which includes E. coli, measured at 5,000 times provincial limits. Suspended solids reached 14 times provincial limits and, at least once, the bacteria-produced oxygen limits reached 41 times what the province allows.
Jaydan Ventures, which holds the sewage plant permit, told the ministry that it tried to transfer registration of the facility to the property strata, which was formed in 2021. The company argues the strata has failed to finish the necessary paperwork to take over the facility and that the same strata had locked Jaydan Ventures out of the property, making it difficult to repair or monitor the site.
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The report notes, however, that Jaydan didn't include any evidence to support the claims and the ministry ultimately laid blame at the company's feet. The company also sent a letter to the ministry last winter asserting its ownership of the sewage system and concerns about the strata's plan to replace it.
Faced with a $58,900 fine, Jaydan was given 30 days to appeal the fine as of Nov. 12. It's not clear whether that happened. It's also not clear from the report whether there are immediate plans to fix the sewage leaks.
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