Vernon Liquid Waste
In January 2013, Vernon council was split as to whether or not to discharge effluent into Okanagan Lake.
SENS as well as Save Our Lakes (SOL) are opposed to a lake discharge. In January 2020 the issue has raised its head again; Vernon council has approved allowing a discharge.
Vernon's liquid waste management plan (LWMP) is meant to address the following concerns:
collection system
treatment system
disposition of treated effluent
composting of biosolids.
'NO!' to Sewage Effluent into Okanagan Lake - January 2020
Okanagan Lake is almost a closed lake, replenishing its water every 90 to 100 years.
Whatever is put into it does not go away but accumulates over this long period. Already Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland and Penticton discharge treated sewage into the lake, adding millions of litres of effluent to the lake every DAY.
The temptation for Vernon to follow suit is obvious but should be resisted, because it is not only dangerous to the ecosystem but also to human life. Claiming that this effluent is treated almost to “drinking water standards” means nothing except that it won't kill us immediately.
What it really means is that the bacteria and heavy metals have been removed so they can meet government standards. But 50% of all drugs people take end up in urine, thus in sewage. Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) end up in sewage from our personal care products and other sources. So these pharmaceuticals, as well as pesticides and possibly other undetected toxins all remain in the treated effluent.
Consultants have persuaded councils to pay enormous sums of money to install “state-of-the-art” treatment systems all through the city, telling them it can result in permitting discharge to the lake: out of sight, out of mind. They also claim there is no worry about the hormones or pharmaceuticals in the treated effluent because the quantity was tiny compared to the water in the lake. Wrong.
Wrong because these EDCs act in a counter-intuitive manner. Minute quantities are much more dangerous than large doses because while the body recognizes a large dose of hormone mimickers as unnatural and rejects it, it readily absorbs small doses treating them as if they were natural hormones. You can read about it in this David Suzuki article. And that happens not just in us, but in fish and aquatic animals too who are drinking, eating, breathing this polluted water.
A very little known but important film was produced by the CBC years ago on the effect of these EDC's. It is called “The Disappearing Male” and links numerous problems mainly associated with males to the preponderance of these EDCs in our environment. These EDCs are also called obesogens because they predispose humans to obesity and have multi-generational effects.
In 2012 SENS warned Vernon in a “minority report” clarifying these facts, that the impact would be damaging and irreversible on anyone or any thing drinking or swimming in such lake water.
Now let's look at why Vernon is now faced with the problem. Climate change is blamed, but It has been known for years that Vernon's projected growth would result in too much liquid waste to be accommodated by the MacKay reservoir. Yet ten years ago the hired consultants, Urban Systems, advised Vernon to install piping to new developments to make them part of the centralized sewage and wastewater treatment system, rather than to install stand-alone systems that would have stabilized Vernon's load and allowed communities to follow what is increasingly becoming a far better solution: eco-sanitation systems.
Centralized sewage and wastewater treatment systems are proving to compound environmental problems and to be unsustainable and costly. SENS recommended the installation of stand alone biological eco-sanitation systems in all new development. These would have allowed these communities to deal with their wastes in more environmental and economical ways.
Eco-sanitation systems are being used increasingly around the world including the China-Sweden Erdos Eco-Town Project, Dongsheng, and Hillerod, Denmark (urban area pop.: 29,382; municipal pop.: 46,354) and are highly recommended by five independent research institutes: http://phosphorusfutures.net/who-we-are as a way to ensure food security in addition to preventing the pollution of fresh water ecosystems.
Now Vernon feels it has dealt with its problem by adding more pollution to a lake that not long ago was truly pristine. What else can they do? Ask citizens to reduce water usage? Add reservoirs? After all, Vernon lacks water in summer. One thing is certain: if Vernon does not come up with solutions now, they never will once they start discharging to the lake, because they will feel they are out of the woods and won't look for alternatives later. Yet climate change will add to this problem and will add many others that threaten existing infrastructures.
Not all problems can be solved by dumping them in the lake. Lakes are touted by the tourism industry as “pristine”. Apparently we must be diligent in keeping them that way.
Interested in getting involved in this project?
Please contact info@sensociety.org
For More Information
Resource(s):
Activist seeks to stop releasing reclaimed water in Okanagan Lake
Download(s):
Pro-River Coalition
Shuswap River Boating Regulation Process
Upper River Boat Regulations document
Background
In 2014, the Regional District of the North Okanagan (RDNO) completed a Shuswap River Watershed Sustainability Plan that defines problems and suggests solutions.
Already 62 wildlife species are of management concern in the watershed's fragile ecosystems.
Motorized recreation is one among the many human activities that need to be addressed. This includes motorboats and jet boats. Various misrepresentations about motorboats are dispelled here.
During the last couple of years, RDNO has sought input regarding motor boat regulations, but no decision was taken because feedback was contradictory. This time around RDNO has committed to taking action based on the outcome of a negotiations process among the various stakeholders.
Below, see Attachments and URLs (links to documents) pertaining to Pro River Coalition's participation in NORD's process of negotiation.
Below that list is an index of links to other relevant pages on this web site.
Interested in getting involved in this project?
Please contact info@sensociety.org
For More Information
Resource(s):
RDNO's Shuswap Sustainability Study (pp 35 & 46 re:boat regs)
RDNO Studies, assessments and inventories (see links on the right of that page)
Download(s):
Water Stewards
Middle Shuswap Water Stewards
What is referred to here as the Middle Shuswap Water Stewards is actually a combination of 2 groups of volunteers calling themselves the Cherryville Water Stewards and the Middle Shuswap & Lumby Water Stewards. The Middle Shuswap watershed stretches from Sugar Lake to Mabel Lake, and encompasses all the tributaries sampled by these groups.
Analysis of the samples gathered by these volunteers is funded by the Regional District of North Okanagan.
CARO Reports
Indexes to the test results as reported by CARO, along with the Hach meter readings, are listed below.
Exerpts
The number of constituents (analytes) in each test is vast, particularly for samples tested for metals. So, for quick reference, some analytes have been selected as important or interesting, particularly if they have tended to exceed published limits with regard to the requirements of aquatic life or human recreation.
Watersheds
The data has been organized into various watershed segments, shown beginning with the upstream sampling sites in the watershed, and ending downstream.
N.B. the numbers have been transcribed by hand in most cases; refer to the data in .PDF files as reported by CARO in cases of uncertainty.
Analyte Limits
The number at the head of each table provides for quick comparison of actual values with an appropriate maximum or minimum.
The concentration of any particular analyte in the water may be appropriate (acceptable) or not depending on the purpose assumed for that water. None of the limits included here refers to drinking water, since little or no water from these courses should be drunk by humans without prior treatment. What wild animals and aquatic life are supposed to do regarding treatment is unknown.
The British Columbia provincial government has an excellent web site for tables of standards and discussions of what they are based on. Source Link
Interested in getting involved in this project?
Please contact info@sensociety.org