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Environment
by Matthew Claxton mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
For years, the water ran clear and clean down through the quiet neighbourhood south of 72nd Avenue on the Willoughby Slope. Three years ago, longtime residents like Trevor Lassam and Diana and Tom Sampson first noticed the smell. “The septic smell would come in waves,” said Diana, a resident on 207 Street north of 68th Avenue. You could walk up and down the quiet street and some days there was nothing, other days the smell was horrendous, said her husband Tom. At the same time, the water in the ditches leaking from a property just to their north, up the slope, began to leave a dark brown residue, like iron oxide, on the rocks and plants. “I thought there was a sewage leak up on their property,” said Lassam. He also dug out a bizarre gusher of black, tarry goo that came up on the edge of his property once. There was a weekly smell in the air, like licorice, that hadn’t been there before. Various neighbours complained several times, and agencies like Fraser Health came out and tested the water to no avail, the Sampson’s and Lassam agree. They were looking for sewage, and testing for high coliform counts, but they never found any. The truth would be revealed when Surrey RCMP, following up on an investigation that started in their city, raided a home on 72nd Avenue in April. They found a sizeable and sophisticated ecstasy lab, and carted away barrel after barrel of chemicals. The drug makers had simply been flushing the waste from their work straight out the back
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What’s flowing into my yard? of a shed on the property. From there, it had worked its way down the slope, killing off blackberry bushes and leaving puddles of water slick with chemical residue. Now Lassam and the Sampsons want to know exactly what is in their water and soil – and they aren’t getting answers from the government. On May 2, the provincial Ministry of Environment contacted the neighbours and warned them that there could be contamination. “The property owner of 20668 72nd Ave. has been made aware of their obligations to meet the provincial legal requirements of the Contaminated Sites Regulation,” the letter said. The owners of the land, who had apparently rented the home to the drug makers, would have to hire professionals to identify any impacted properties and mitigate the contamination. “For the interim, as a precaution and until proper analysis can be completed, it is recommended that you keep children, pets, and other people occupying your property clear from the adjacent land and surface water drainage systems and not use any wells,” the letter said. When the neighbours contacted Langley Township, they were told the same thing. A June 18 email from the Township’s building department said that an environmental company had been hired, and testing was underway. “If during this process it is identified that potential off-site contamination has occurred, affected properties will be notified by the responsible party,” said an email from the Township. Yet the neighbours say no one has spoken to them. “They never checked my property, they never checked the property next door,” said Lassam. Some testing and cleanup work has been done on the drug lab site. Large white tarps are spread across an area just to the south
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No one has tested the soil downhill and downstream from a toxic drug lab.
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Diana Sampson and Trevor Lassam are two neighbours worried about a lack of action by the government to test their land for toxic runoff. of the former lab, and a layer of of the water heads into a retensoil was removed, according to tion pond for one of the newer neighbours. developments to the south. The neighbourhood is on muniTesting should have been done cipal water and doesn’t use wells, further down in the ditches and which the residents say is very on private property, the neighfortunate. However, they are bours say. worried about their soil, and anyThey still don’t know exactly thing that grows in it. what was in the chemical waste Lassam has given up on having flushed out the back of the drug a garden for this lab. The Ministry year. of Environment “They never checked “I’m worried provided a list about it,” he said. of the chemicals my property. They Lassam, who found in the lab, never checked the lives directly to but those were the south of the raw materials, not property next door.” former drug lab, by-products and Trevor Lassam said a row of waste. hedges along the “You don’t know edge of his property is starting what it does for people 20 years to die off. The smell is still there down the line,” said Diana. in the ditches, especially after it While government agencies rains. initially responded to emails and “The concern is when the rains phone calls, the neighbours say start,” said Diana. “Nothing’s since about June they’ve been been cleaned up.” getting fewer responses. It feels Children play in the ditches like they’re getting stonewalled, farther down the slope, and some said Lassam.
Find out about the $40 for parents during the teacher labour dispute, some of the activities planned if the school year doesn’t start Sept. 2, and new offerings at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.