TWP: ‘Lukey’s lost ledge’ — looking for the lost lode of Queen Charlotte’s July music festival ready to Rock the Woods with lineup of big acts
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Water testing raises spectre of aquifer contamination SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
Win Teague, left, and Bob Hale clean prawns for patrons of Cowichan Bay’s annual Spot Prawn Festival on Sunday morning. After purchasing prawns at the wharf, visitors lined up down the block to have volunteers clean them by the bucketful. Proceeds from their hard work went to the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre. [KEVIN ROTHBAUER/CITIZEN]
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Though tested by concerned local water purveyors since 2006, more recent worries about groundwater quality in the Fisher Road area prompted the Cowichan Valley Regional District to dig deeper into the state of Cobble Hill’s water supply. The regional district hired Thurber Engineering, whose 2011 report suggesting nitrate contamination in Aquifer 197 — the drinking water supply for Cobble Hill residents — will be shared this Thursday, May 23 at the Cobble Hill Hall. The town hall meeting begins at 7 p.m. “Although there is no immediate threat to drinking water wells near this site, we all rely on the groundwater in Aquifer 197 so we need to ensure we are working together to protect this resource for ourselves and for future generations,” Cobble Hill area director Gerry Giles said Tuesday. The Thurber Report recommended further study “to investigate the possible presence of contaminants and to more accurately assess the nature and flow of groundwater in the area,” according to the CVRD. That work began in 2012 when three monitoring wells were drilled and the water tested in the fall of both 2012 and 2013.
The most disturbing results came from a well off Fisher and Ball roads. In both tests of the well, the level of nitrates was nine times greater than the 10 parts per million standard set by the Contaminated Sites Regulation of the BC Environmental Management Act. Tests at the other two monitoring wells showed nitrate results between two and three times more than what’s considered safe for human consumption. “Elevated nitrate levels in groundwater are used to alert authorities to the potential of aquifer contamination and of a risk to public health,” Giles explained. “The Canadian Drinking Water Quality Summary Table states that elevated nitrate levels can cause Methaemoglobinaemia, also known as blue baby syndrome, in infants under three months old and also that it is classified as a possible carcinogen.” In addition to representatives from the CVRD and from Thurber Engineering, other officials in attendance will include those from the Vancouver Island Health Authority, as well as the Ministries of Environment and of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. The Thurber Report can be found at www.cvrd.bc.ca/index. aspx?nid=1613
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