Occupation of premier’s officer ends, but situation remains
WEST KELOWNA – The occupation of Christy Clark's West Kelowna constituency offices ended today but the situation that caused it — where the Westside dumps its sewage—could continue for years.
The chiefs of five native bands, and some non-native protesters from the Lower Nicola valley swarmed Clark's constituency office in downtown Westbank for five days, though Clark herself is only figuratively involved. The protesters are upset because the Central Okanagan Regional District sends treated biosolids—everything flushed down the toilets in Peachland, West Kelowna and Westbank First Nation, less the water — to the Lower Nicola valley where it's treated by a private company to become fertilizer. Most communities have a similar product that is popular at gardening stores; you might know it as Ogogrow. In the Nicola Valleys, it's Sunshine Grow. But to the chiefs, it's disrespectful of traditional native lands.
They targetted West Kelowna because the chiefs made their demands of the Premier and her riding just happens to be where the mess begins, on the Westside.
The regional district knows it needs a local solution, says spokesperson Bruce Smith, but has no plans until they create a master plan for the Westside Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant and it hasn't even begun yet.
"This is not a short-term or even a mid-term solution," Smith said. "It's not going to happen next week."
The regional district is still in year one of a five-year contract with BioCentral, a company with a location in the Nicola Valley near Merritt. BioCentral referred calls to a backgrounder and offered no further comment.
Global News reported yesterday the occupation ended without the moratorium protesters sought. Instead, the leaders of the five native bands involved in the occupation have been promised a high-level meeting with government officials today.
Smith says the regional district hopes BioCentral can honour the remaining 54 months of the contract to accept approximately 100 tonnes a week of biosolids from the waste water treatment plant in West Kelowna, but says it has contingency plans in place. Since February, the regional district has diverted all its biosolid shipments to its previous contractor, Sylvis Environmental near Clinton B.C. where it undergoes land application.
“We’re viewing this as a temporary problem that we hope can be resolved," Smith said.
Smith defended the product handling and treatment protocols of BioCentral.
“They make a class A compost exactly the same as Ogogrow,” he said. “There is so much misinformation and fear-mongering out there. It meets the requirements of the Organic Matter Recyling regulation.”
Smith said the regional district for many years buried biosolids at the now-closed Westside landfill and only considered an outside option when no local companies responded to its tender.
To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
—Correction 8:39 p.m. Tues. April 21, 2015 Spelling of Sylvis Environmental was changed and clarification was made of contract details regarding how biosolids are transported.
Join the Conversation!
Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
2 responses
Response to Dan Mancuso:Biosolids (whether Class A or Class B)is not just human waste.It is a complex mixture of human and industrial waste, superbugs, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, PCBs, dioxins, pesticides, solvents, metals, EDCs, endotoxins, and hazardous industrial waste, most of which are unregulated and some of whichare persistent and enter the food chain.No amount of treatment can remove these pollutants.The five chiefs are not alone.Their concerns are shared byover a hundred environmental, health, and farm organizations, including internationally renowned soil scientistsat the Cornell Waste Management Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the National Farmers Union, the Rodale Institute, the Center for Food Safety, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the Organic Consumers Association.Those promoting this practice don’t just spread sludge; they spread myths: see http://www.sludgefacts.org/126.pdf.
It seems to me by taking human waste and converting it to fertilizer to grow…anything, is a very efficient and constructive solution to a very big problem, I would have used ‘elegant solution’, but we’re talking about human s**t here. That people don’t trust ‘government scientists’ to speak truth rather than ‘official policy’ to protect their jobs, is to be expected, given our history…concerning the safety and odor issues. The alternative being, flushing all those turds and what not into our drinking water – like we’re doing now! Then there’s all those chemical poisons sold by Big-Ag-Chem-Pharm-Oil, called ‘fertilizers’… Once you bring in the Indians and the Soros paid professional enviro-turds, going on and on about, “…it’s disrespectful of traditional native lands…” nonsense, it becomes more clear what the real agenda is here. No matter the truth in all this human waste, the promoters of this great recycling idea have one very big obstacle in their way – aesthetics!