SPALLUMCHEEN – Under pressure to take action, the Interior Health Authority says a team is investigating high nitrate levels in a Spallumcheen water supply. The health authority has promised an update within three months. However, some question whether that is fast enough.
The nitrate levels have been an ongoing issue for the Steele Springs Waterworks District which takes water from a Hullcar Aquifer and provides water to 53 homes. The district has been under a water quality advisory since 2014.
“For most of us it is very frustrating because there are solutions at hand that could be effected very quickly but nobody seems to have the will to do that,” says Al Price, who gets his water from the Steele Springs Waterworks District and is part of the advocacy group Save Hullcar Aquifer Team.
Earlier this year, the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre wrote to Interior Health asking it to stop a farm in the area from applying liquid manure to a field, a practice which both the law centre and a local advocacy group believe is likely contributing to the nitrate problem.
Read More: Interior Health pushed to act on nitrate in drinking water
Price acknowledges the there could be other sources of nitrate but reasons, “If you stop a known source, it is much, much easier to find any others.”
But for the health authority the jury is still out. It is investigating the issue and says it will provide an “update” within three months.
Medical Health Officer Dr. Kamran Golmohammadi says there are more than 10 farms that “may apply liquefied manure onto the land.” However, he says one is “larger in size and scale” than the others.
“It is very complex and difficult to determine a point source for high nitrate concentration in water,” says Golmohammadi.
The quality of the water has also caught the attention of the Splatsin Band Council.
The band now has questions of their own about whether their member’s wells are impacted.
“We’ve called upon the First Nations Health Authority to come in and do testing,” says Christian.
For Christian the IHA’s timeline is not fast enough. He calls their plan to provide an update within three months ridiculous.
However, according to what Interior Health has heard from the First Nations Health Authority, high nitrate levels might not be a problem in the area where band members are drawing their water. Golmohammadi says the First Nations community is drawing water from Hullcar Aquifer 102, which has a much lower nitrate level than Hullcar Aquifer 103 where Steele Springs Waterworks District gets its water.
As IHA investigates the province says four provincial ministries have come together to start a working group on the issue.
As the wheels of government grind slowly forward, some who tap into the water source are cautiously optimistic change is coming down the pipes.
“It is a good start but I think there has to be a commitment amongst all the various parties to find a solution,” says Price.
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