Firm fields questions on Salmon Valley waste plan

Plenty of questions were raised when concern over the City's plan to spread biosolids over farmland in the Salmon River area drew about 50 people to a public information on the issue in the community Wednesday evening

John Lavery of Sylvis Environmental, the firm hired by the City to carry out the project found himself fielding questions about the potential environmental hazard the material particularly given the proximity of the site to the Salmon River.

The plan is to spread the material, made from the sludge at the Lansdowne sewage treatment plant, over 47 hectares at a farm on Wright Creek Pit Road and while the minimun buffer from a river or creek is 30 metres, Lavery said the buffer was extended in some spots where the land can get wet.

However, it was noted that there was a spill on Highway 97 when a truck rolled delivering the material to the Johnson farm. Salmon Valley Volunteer Fire Department deputy chief Ben Gibbons said the spill was treated as a hazardous materials emergency and effort was taken to prevent the material from washing into nearby McMillan Creek.

Lavery said such spills are treated as hazardous materials situations because biosolids are a form of fertilzer. That only raised further worry for Gibbons who noted both the McMillan and the Salmon are salmon-bearing rivers.

City utilities manager Marco Fornari responded that the carriers have a plan in place to contain the spills.

Lavery later said that while the regulation limits on-site stockpiles to lasting no more than nine months, Sylvis and the City aim to reduce that time period to a matter of weeks.

Concern was also raised about the time it took to spread the material at Johnson farm where pile remained at the site for years. Lavery said management of the biosolids has improved since Sylvis was hired and Fornari said that if the material is not spread in a timely fashion, he'll have it transported back to the City's sewage treatment plant.

The potential for the elements in the material, notably the heavy metals, being passed onto humans and animals through the crops grown on the land, was raised. Lavery maintained the elements of concern will exist at trace levels once the material is disked into the soil and that the land where it is applied must sit for 60 days before any crops can be planted.

It was also noted that the community relies heavily on ground water and concern was raised that the material's toxic substances could leak into the water table. Lavery equated the material to peat and said it retains moisture, particularly once crops that also absorb water are planted into land where it is applied.

"I guarantee it won't be a hazard to your groundwater," Lavery said.

Lavery said the material will be applied to a maximum 15 centimetres in depth and will make up less than half-a-percent of the topsoil.

About 60 wet tonnes will be applied to each hectare which Lavery said amounts to about a finger width in depth once spread over the entire site and maintained it can hold much more water.

Lavery said the plan is to apply the material in the late-summer and early-fall.