FRIDAY JULY 18 2014 VOL. 41, NO. 28
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Steamship Days
Guest editorial
Photos and thank yous
Ammending the OCP
On the court at BICS
Bowen’s tennis coach, Goran Milosevic
The Young Farmers of Bowen Island made their debut at last week’s Farmer’s Market and earned more than $100 selling produce. For more on them, see page 2. Matt Matheson, photo
Municipality urged to move forward on plans for water treatment system MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
On July 8, the Bowen Island Municipality received a letter from Vancouver Coastal Health stating that the Cove Bay water system is inadequate to address the issue of protozoan contamination. The letter, signed by Medical Officer of Health Mark Lysyshyn and dated June 6, requests that plans for a new treatment process meet a series of standards and states that such a plan will be placed as a condition to Cove Bay’s operating permit and will need to be in place before the current system is expanded. This is the first official communication the municipality has heard on the issue from Vancouver Coastal
Health. “We’ve heard grumblings from them which have come in increasingly strong language over the past five to seven years, and people who work in the water business on Bowen have been expecting something like this for a long time. Now the penny has dropped,” says councillor Andrew Stone. Stone worked as a water operator on six water systems on Bowen Island between 2004 and 2010. He says that the requirements listed in the Vancouver Coastal Health letter essentially ask for: ozone treatment, uv treatment and the reducing the cloudiness of the water. For the third requirement, the letter states, “for less than 1 NTU of Turbidity.” Stone says that Cove Bay water hovers close to 1 NTU of
turbidity which is an acceptable level of turbidity in water systems across Canada. On parts of the Island where people are drawing their water from deep wells, that level can be as low as 0.1, and it would appear very clear. “Filtering the water to improve the clarity is in part solving an aesthetic problem,” says Stone, “but it is also important because chorine byproducts are associated with dissolved organics in the water and removing it will also help to make UV treatment more effective.” He says the further away the water is from it source, the more dissolved organics will be in it. continued, PAGE 8
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EVERGREEN - Nine lots starting at $280,000
View and forested lots, surrounded by a network of trails. A fantastic opportunity to get back to nature and become a part of the Evergreen community. For lot tours and information, Dee will be on site June 19th & 20th, 1:00 - 3:30pm. Directions: Take Evergreen Lane off of Bowen Bay Road.
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