Comox Valley man working AVICC to ban groundwater extraction

Comox Valley man working AVICC to ban groundwater extraction

by | Apr 12, 2019

Photo Caption

Comox Valley man working AVICC to ban groundwater extraction

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Vancouver Island Groundwater Rights Update Water rights advocate Bruce Gibbons is on a mission to end licensing of groundwater extraction for bottled water on Vancouver Island. And if that goes well, for all of BC.

Gibbons is burning shoe leather and working the phone to encourage all 53 districts and municipalities in the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities (AVICC) to support an upcoming motion requesting the provincial government stop issuing well licenses to bottle water. If the motion passes, it heads to a province-wide vote at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.

Gibbons said preventing groundwater bottling is a “no brainer” for many coastal communities, and several town councils have voted to support the AVICC motion on-the-spot after listening to his presentation.

The other half of Gibbons’ two-pronged approach is to ensure that there is a back-up if the AVICC motion fails. Gibbons discovered most towns need to amend the language of their bylaws if they want to prevent commercial bottling of groundwater, and he’s encouraging them
to do so

“When people wrote bylaws for their communities, they weren’t thinking of bottling water, so in most cases it’s not an actual conscious decision to allow it or not allow it,” he said. “[Communities] look at their bylaws and say ‘well it looks like if it came down to a decision, this
particular bylaw would allow it because it doesn’t expressly prohibit it,’ so they’re finding themselves in a position where they need to revise their bylaws to expressly prohibit bottled water.”

According to Gibbons, a dozen AVICC communities now have bylaws on the books that specifically forbid bottling groundwater. Twenty five AVICC communities have bylaws that doallow groundwater bottling (several of these are working to amend their bylaws). The bylaw
status of the remaining communities is unknown.

AVICC communities have been largely supportive of Gibbons urging a review of old bylaws. The exception has been Langford, where Gibbons said planning officials were uncooperative and appeared confused by his request.

“It was just a really weird experience with them. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t believe in what I was doing. They just didn’t get it.”
He’s shaken off the minor failure and said regardless which way the AVICC vote goes, water rights in BC are advancing, and his campaign is worthwhile.

“When you get involved in something like this, you realize how many people there are who really devote a lot of time and energy to protecting our environment and the world we live in. It takes a lot of time and energy, but it’s a very positive thing.”

Gavin McRae is a reporter and assistant editor for the Watershed Sentinel, which is a publishing partner of Decafnation

 

“Brooklyn Creek is a small creekshed whose hydrology and ecological services have been altered and degraded by decades of land use impacts,” — Tim Pringle in the preface to Assessing the Worth of Ecological Services Using the Ecological Accounting Process for Watershed Assessment: Brooklyn Creek Demonstration Application in the Comox Valley.

 

 

WHAT IS THE ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNTING PROCESS (EAP)?

Ecological Accounting Process — “The EAP approach begins by first recognizing the importance of a stream in a natural state and then asking: how can we maintain those ecological values while allowing the stream to be used for drainage,” says Jim Dumont, Engineering Applications Authority with the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.

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Who’s monitoring water quality at Island beaches?

The Vancouver Island Health Authority announced last month that it planned to drop a public health responsibility and dump it onto BC municipalities, but it apparently forgot to inform municipal officials

The Week: North Island health care privatization marches on

The Week: North Island health care privatization marches on

by | Apr 12, 2019

What would Mr. Ed have to say about these things?  |  George Le Masurier photo

The Week: North Island health care privatization marches on

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Good Morning. Whether you woke up in one of the worst cities for business and dangerous for crime … supposedly (Courtenay), one of the worst for recognizing heritage (Comox, for sure) or the only community that has banned plastic bags (Cumberland), it’s looks like another great day to live in the Comox Valley.

But first, let’s praise the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital Board for finally standing up to Island Health’s steady march toward privatization of health care.

Stop health care privatization

Decafnation has documented the folly of public private partnerships (known as P3s) in health care by the problems that policy has caused at the Comox Valley Hospital. But Island Health loves to hand over essential health care services to private contractors, and this time they’re aiming at the North Island’s last remaining pathology laboratory.

Island Health wants to close down clinical pathology services at the Campbell River Hospital and outsource them to a private corporation in Victoria. Clinical pathology services at the Comox Valley Hospital will continue into next year, but only as part of an agreement when St. Joe’s Hospital closed. There is no guarantee Island Health won’t try to close them when the agreement terminates.

The real story goes back to the formation of the Victoria pathologists’ corporation (VICPCC). Prior to that, all Island Health pathologists were employees (a few may have incorporated as separate individuals).

Some Victoria-based pathologists own this corporation together, and many of the rest of the island pathologists (except Campbell River, for now) are partially or fully employed or contracted by the corporation.

Information about the corporation and details of its contract with Island Health are not readily available. A Campbell River reporter tried to get this information, but Island Health abruptly cancelled a scheduled interview and has stonewalled him ever since.

Our sources estimate that VICPCC’s contract with Island Health would probably be worth nearly $10 million per year.

It isn’t right that such a huge amount of public health care money is going to such an opaque entity that apparently decides where and how to deliver services to north Island residents.

When it comes to health care services, non-Victoria areas always seem to lose out in favour of centralization to the capital city. Island Health usually claims this provides “higher quality” services, but they never share any evidence to support that assertion.

Courtenay business woes?

The politically conservative Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses looked through some data at its Toronto headquarters and decided the City of Courtenay is bad for business.

No one visited Courtenay, talked to any business owners or elected officials or business organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce. They used data.

This is not unlike how Maclean’s magazine decided last year that Courtenay was one of the most dangerous places to live in Canada.

These data-based surveys are baloney. They’re designed as marketing devices to boost subscriptions or memberships in an organization. Naive local media pick them up because it’s a spoon-fed story.

People should stop reading them, writing about them and giving them any attention.

Heritage interference by AG?

Has there been some hanky-panky going on at the BC Attorney General’s office about the Mack Laing Trust?

When some Shakesides supporters started investigating a pathway to heritage designation that doesn’t require any input from the local government, apparently alarms bells went off at the BC Attorney General’s office. The AG has supported the town’s petition to demolish the house.

And that caused a high-ranking Heritage Branch official to say he could not give information to the local citizens because the AG’s office had allegedly told the branch not to discuss Mack Laing with anybody. In other words, a gag order.

This sounds clearly like a backdoor attempt to thwart a legitimate citizen initiative. Obviously, the AG doesn’t want Shakesides to get a heritage designation because that could help sink their leaky argument to tear the building down.

But how is it ethical for the Attorney General’s office, which is supposed to defend public trusts, to pressure another BC government branch into deny a citizen’s access to information?

Earth Day v. Plastic Bags

We’re celebrating Earth Day on April 22 this year, which would be a great time for Courtenay and Comox to announce that they are following Cumberland’s lead and ban single-use plastic bags.

 

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Three new sewage conveyance routes short-listed for study by joint advisory committee

Three new sewage conveyance routes short-listed for study by joint advisory committee

by | Apr 11, 2019

George Le Masurier photo

Three new sewage conveyance routes short-listed for study by joint advisory committee

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Less than a year after the Comox-Courtenay Sewer Commission abandoned its patchwork plan to prevent leakage from large pipes that run through the K’omoks estuary and along Point Holmes beaches, a new, comprehensive Liquid Waste Management Plan is emerging that considers climate change and moves the entire conveyance system onto an overland route.

Over the last six months, members of a joint Public and Technical Advisory Committee have developed a long list of new options for conveying sewage to the Brent Road treatment plant, as well as envisioning future demand for advanced levels of treatment and the ability to reuse the wastewater and other resources.

The committee narrowed those conveyance options down to a short-list of three at its March 22 meeting. They plan to present their preferred conveyance routes to the Sewer Commission in May or June, or after consultations conclude with the K’omoks First Nation.

All three options involve rerouting the sewerage system’s pipes overland. That means there will be no sewage-carrying pipes left in the estuary. The commission’s previous plan relied on aging pipes located in the estuary, along Comox Harbor and Point Holmes beaches.

And, unlike the previous sewage master plan, none of the short-listed options require a new high risk in-line pump station in the Croteau Beach neighborhood.

Opposition from Croteau residents was a major contributing factor in the development of the new Liquid Waste Management Plan. But they are pleased with the new plans.

“This process has been everything an open community process should be,” Lorraine Aitken, a Croteau Beach resident and committee alternate, told Decafnation. “It is a complete opposite experience from the last plan.”

Kris LaRose, senior manager of water and wastewater services for the Comox Valley Regional District, said the process is following guidelines mandated by the provincial government, which will ultimately review and approve the management plan.

Sewer route short list

The option known as “2A” would pump sewage directly from the Courtenay pump station over Comox Road hill, through Comox and along Lazo Road to the Brent Road treatment plant. This option will require a new pump station in the Town of Comox, within about 300 meters of the existing Jane Place pump station.

The 2A option mitigates the environmental and archaeological risks of having sewage pipes in the estuary and on the Comox peninsula foreshore. This overland route maximizes accessibility to all pipes and structures for maintenance. It involves two large pump stations and the upgrade of Courtenay and Jane Place facilities.

In an option known as “4A,” sewage from Courtenay would be pumped directly to the treatment plant via a northern overland route across the Courtenay flats, rising up and crossing McDonald Road and skirting the northern boundaries of the Town of Comox. Sewage from Comox would continue to pump directly from Jane Place to the treatment plant

The committee collapsed three separate plans for tunnelling under Comox Hill and Lazo Road into a single option on the short list. But all three will be studied separately.

One option proposes tunnelling under both Comox Road hill and Lazo Road hill, and the other two would tunnel under only Lazo Road hill.

The differences among the three tunnelling options revolve around how the Comox Jane Place pump station would tie into the main line and the degree of upgrades required for the Jane Place pumps.

Evaluating the options

All members of the Joint Technical and Public Advisory Committee contacted by Decafnation praised LaRose and facilitator Allison Habkirk, who also served as the committee chair, for creating a successful process.

Habkirk, a three-term mayor and councillor for Central Saanich, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria, and a registered town planner at her own firm.

The first three committee meetings focused exclusively on goals and the evaluation methodology through which the options were eventually viewed.

“It was a rigorous process with a strong consultation component,” LaRose said.

The group agreed on five metrics: social benefits, environment factors, technical considerations, affordability and economic benefits.

The technical and public members of the committee differed in the weighting to give each of the five metrics, but they compromised at 17 percent for social benefits, 18 percent for environmental, 45 percent on technical, 18 percent on affordability and two percent on economic benefits.

Paul Nash, of Sechelt, is assisting Habkirk and the committee as the management plan’s project coordinator. Nash was the project manager for Schelt’s innovative Water Recovery Center, and is currently consulting with the Village of Cumberland on the renovation of its wastewater treatment facility.

Walt Bayless, an engineer with the global company WSP, which recently acquired the Canadian firm, Opus International, is the consultant on the project.

Committee comments

The short-list of conveyance options going forward for further detailed study are the best possible options from the perspective of environmental protection, according to Tim Ennis, executive director of the Comox Valley Land Trust, who is representing the Comox Valley Conservation Partnership on the committee.

“Conveyance of raw sewage through and within the K’omoks estuary is inherently risky to the health of our marine environment both within the K’omoks estuary itself and to the greater Baynes Sound ecosystem,” Ennis told Decafnation. “While this route represents the current status quo, we are thrilled to see that it will not be included as an option going forward as the system is upgraded to meet future demand.”

Ennis said the Conservation Partnership has been pleased with the “transparent and inclusive democratic process associated with the LWMP.” He particularly noted the broad range of interests represented and the CVRD’s efforts to engage the general public.

“We feel that on the topic of conveyance, the CVRD’s LWMP process finds the right balance between cost-effectiveness, the avoidance of negative social impacts, and environmental protection,” he said.

Courtenay Councillor Will Cole-Hamilton, who represented the city on the LWMP advisory committee said he’s proud to be part of the planning.

“I have been truly impressed by this process,” Cole-Hamilton said. “It brings together such a large and diverse group of people – politicians, community members, KFN leaders, and sewage experts who’ve made this their life’s work.”

Croteau Beach resident Aitken praised the process for its organization and communications.

“They laid out the process at the beginning and they did exactly what they said they would do,” Aitken said. “It was so refreshing.”

Next steps

If the sewer commission approves the Technical and Public advisory committee’s short list of options, the WSP consultants will study each of them in-depth. Then the committee will review WSP’s findings and make a final recommendation to the sewer commission sometime this fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS A LIQUID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN?

The liquid waste management plan process is used by local governments in BC to develop strategies for managing sewer services. It includes the collection/review of existing information, development of options for future services, identification of a preferred option, completion of required studies and assessments and development of financial and implementation plans. The plan is ultimately submitted to the provincial government for review and consideration for approval.

Public engagement is key to the planning process. Public input will be collected online and through public events, which will be posted on this page. Residents of Courtenay and Comox are encouraged to weigh in with feedback, to help the CVRD develop a plan that works best for the community.

 

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Comox Valley hears “Voices from the Sacrifice Zone’

Comox Valley hears “Voices from the Sacrifice Zone’

by | Apr 3, 2019

Comox Valley hears “Voices from the Sacrifice Zone’

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ITwas a long rap sheet, but speakers from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment detailed the dangers of fracking to people in the Peace region of BC, this Sunday at the Florence Filberg Lounge.

Voices from the Sacrifice Zone was hosted by the Watershed Sentinel.

Frenetic natural gas development using fracking – an extraction procedure where high-pressure water, sand, and a cocktail of proprietary (and not publicly known) chemicals are pumped into gas wells to stimulate production – have rural residents of the Peace region “enmeshed like a spider’s web,” said event moderator Dr. Warren Bell.

The impacts of fracking are hard to miss: round-the-clock flaring of excess gas, open-pit wastewater ponds the size of small lakes, and the constant drone of diesel-powered equipment. Other effects are insidious, such as increased rates of terminal cancers and lung diseases.

Karen Leven, an environmental scientist from Dawson Creek, opened the event. She said 28,000 wells have been drilled in the Peace region since 2005. Future LNG capacity in BC is expected to prompt 100,000 more wells, and 85% of them will rely on fracking.

Leven described a region under siege from fracking activity, with few controls on the pace of development, and environmental recommendations ignored. People are “basically totally powerless” to control or stop fracking in their neighbourhoods, said Leven.

Fracking degrades surface and groundwater and air quality, impacts fish and wildlife, spikes methane emissions, and puts residents at risk of gas explosions and earthquakes, she said.

Leven said the disparity between environmental regulations in the mining industry versus oil and gas is “night and day.”

Retention ponds for mining operations must be double-lined, and spills are closely monitored and reported. Retention ponds for fracking wastewater are not required to be lined, said Leven. The wastewater is allowed to percolate into the ground. (A 2016 study published in Nature found fracking fluid can contain arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, and scores of other chemicals).

“The industry needs to prove to the public that they are not causing harm”

Gas has been touted as green energy which would help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, said Levin, but when the effects of escaped methane emissions are factored, natural gas is a potent cause of climate change, disguised as a solution.

Married couple Pat and Jim Strasky operate a grain farm in the region. The view from their their farmhouse is dominated by multiple fracking sites, often flaring excess gas. An unlined, 70-acre fracking wastewater pond sits nearby, with a mountainous earth backdrop from its excavation. Jim struggles to move farming equipment down roads worn to muddy, rutted tracks from oil and gas trucks that can require 5000 trips per frack. Complaints about the road degradation are ignored.

“If there’s a frack on, there will be 100 trucks in 24 hours,” said Pat. “They’ll go by the house, day and night.”

During fracking, large-diameter water hoses can stretch for kilometres through culverts, in ditches, and over roads, immobilizing farming equipment.

“It’s incredible, the amount of material they pump down those holes, between the water and the frack sand, and the chemicals to got with it.”

The land for wellpads and other infrastructure has been pruned from the Agricultural Land Reserve, and Jim figured about 12% of their farmland had reduced yield.

Dr. Ulrike Meyer, a physician in Dawson Creek, talked about the health risks of living in the Sacrifice Zone. Cancer rates and respiratory conditions in the region are elevated – including pulmonary fibrosis, that Meyer suspects is linked to the silica from fracking fluid. Meyer said fracking can also bring naturally occurring radioactive material up from deep below the ground, but the link between the radioactive material and cancer rates is to-date unproven.

Assigning definitive blame to fracking is elusive because studies and data are scarce, said Meyer, but individual case studies are compelling.

One of her patients suffered from fainting spells and cognitive decline. Near his house sat a fracking wastewater holding tank the size of a swimming pool. In winter, propane heaters prevented the water from freezing, and steam would waft off the tank toward his house. When the tank was eventually removed, his health quickly rebounded. The current regulated back-set for wastewater tanks is 100m from a residence, and Meyer called on that to be extended to 1600m.

Testing of pregnant woman in Dawson Creek showed levels of benzene, a carcinogen and known endocrine disruptor, three times higher than normal. Levels of barium, strontium, manganese, and aluminum were also “way higher than the rest of the Canadian population,” said Meyer. A study by UBC showed the same metals are in the region’s water at elevated levels, and contamination from fracking is suspected.

Another effect of fracking are “boomtown” problems – lower education levels, and increased drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, and crime.

“The industry needs to prove to the public that they are not causing harm,” said Meyer. She called for a full public inquiry on the effects of fracking to human health, drinking water, and the environment.

The event ended on an upbeat note with Don Pettit, a renewable energy expert in the Peace Region, speaking on how to move past fossil fuels and the problems they create. “We are now in the midst of the most dramatic and important energy transition in human history. The shift to the new clean energies of wind, solar, conservation, and energy efficiency provides clear answers to our global problems,” said Pettit.

“We know what the problems are, we know how to fix them, and the tools to do so are in our hands.”

Gavin MacRae is a reporter and assistant editor of Watershed Sentinel magazine, which is headquartered in the Comox Valley and is a publishing partner of Decafnation.

 

 

 

 

 

5 REASONS TO
BAN FRACKING

1 — Fracking threatens water sources. A fracking project requires anywhere from 10 million to 90 million litres of water per project, the equivalent of roughly 4 to 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools. There is no method to safely dispose of fracking wastewater. The injection of fracking wastewater into the ground has been linked to earthquakes.

2 — Fracking makes climate change worse. Some industry and government officials are promoting fracked natural gas as a “clean, green fuel,” but studies show that this type of gas can produce as much greenhouse gas emissions as coal.

3 — Fracking puts public health at risk. Fracking companies are not required to disclose how many – or even what kinds – of chemicals they use. Studies have shown that many of the chemicals (the ones we do know about) cause serious health problems such as cancer or organ damage.

4 — We need green jobs. Fracking is a threat to farming, tourism and other sustainable industries. Rather than continuing to frack for natural gas or oil, we should look for sustainable solutions to transition off of fossil fuels.

5 — Fracking opens the door to other mega projects. Fracking projects can lead to a network of fracked gas pipelines, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, export projects, and LNG super tankers that impact our watersheds and climate and the health and safety of our communities.

For more information about the Council of Canadians’ campaign to ban fracking visit canadians.org/fracking.

 

 

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Who’s monitoring water quality at Island beaches?

The Vancouver Island Health Authority announced last month that it planned to drop a public health responsibility and dump it onto BC municipalities, but it apparently forgot to inform municipal officials

Decision time looming for North Island Green Party

Decision time looming for North Island Green Party

by | Mar 5, 2019

From left, Blair Cusack and Mark de Bruijn  /  Pat Carl photo

Decision time looming for North Island Green Party

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North Island-Powell River (NIPR) Greens, Voters-all: The time has come. Drum roll, please.

On March 10, between the hours of 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Greens will file into the party’s nomination meetings to cast their votes for the candidate who will represent the NIPR riding in the 2019 federal election to be held some time in October.

Greens can attend the meeting either in the Powell River Public Library located at 100 – 6975 Alberni Street in Powell River or in the Black Creek Community Centre located at 2001 Black Creek Road in Black Creek.

Yes, through the miracle of modern technology, voting for the GPC NIPR riding candidate will be conducted simultaneously from two different locations as befits a riding that encompasses nearly 58,000 square kilometres. Greens have their fingers crossed that electronic wizardry is sufficient enough to pull this off without a hitch.

While non-Green observers are welcome, voters will need to verify their Green Party membership, snap up a ballot, and check the name of their preferred candidate.

If your GPC membership has expired within the last 12 months and you have the exorbitant $10.00 membership fee in one of your pockets or buried deep in your purse and you’re willing to part with such a lavish sum, then you can vote. Such an opportunity. Let your voice be heard.

And, here, direct from attending three separate meet-and-greets, are the two candidates:

Blair Cusack believes environmental half-measures are no longer feasible. “There was a time when it was possible for me and you to do green things and help our community on the one hand, but, on the other hand, vote for a party that appealed to other aspects of what we wanted or what we believed in. Those times are past.” Read more about Blair.

Mark de Bruijn believes the environmental and social issues affecting the NIPR riding are growing. “I want to work with the many concerned, motivated and inspired people in our communities to find fresh and innovative solutions to these challenges. It is work we can do together; everyone can play a part.” Read more about Mark.

Unlike other parties, GPC has opened its doors at three meet-and greets and allowed party members and the general public to observe, question, and provide feedback to the two candidates. And here’s a shocker: Although only one of the fine candidates can win the nomination, they have both pledged to actively work on the campaign of whichever candidate is chosen to run in the election.

Following the decision made by Greens at the nomination meeting, the Campaign Launch is set for March 23 with time and location to be announced. Joining the launch will be NIPR’s special guest, Green Party MP Elizabeth May. Watch the NIPR Facebook page and website for more information as it becomes available.

Pat Carl lives in Comox and contributes to the Comox Valley Civic Journalism Project

 

More

Who’s monitoring water quality at Island beaches?

The Vancouver Island Health Authority announced last month that it planned to drop a public health responsibility and dump it onto BC municipalities, but it apparently forgot to inform municipal officials