Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen purchases home near landfill for $500k

The Campbell Mountain Landfill, located 5 kilometres east of downtown Penticton, has been operational for 45 years.

It was built long before there were requirements for a special liner or membrane beneath the soil.

That’s why contaminants from the garbage are now leaching beyond the dump’s property line.

“It is a landfill and it was constructed in 1972 so there is going to be leachate. We’ve been testing around the landfill for years waiting to see if it was going to start moving down towards the lake and in early 2016 we got our first indicators that it was moving off-site,” said Bill Newell, CAO at Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS).

The RDOS is attempting to mitigate the problem.

The regional district purchased the property at 1655 Reservoir Road for $500,000.

Engineering Supervisor Liisa Bloomfield said it’s partially because the property is within a 300-metre buffer zone from the landfill.

Bloomfield said there are also signs of “leachate-type indicator contaminants” in the well, which was not used as a potable source.

Those materials, also discovered in on-site monitoring wells, contain higher than normal levels of sodium and chloride.

Some residents in the area say they aren’t worried about leachate migration.

At least one property owner residing at the base of the landfill said their drinking water comes from a domestic source and area residents use irrigation systems for their wineries and orchards.

The RDOS said it will be installing a leachate collection system to ensure contaminated ground water does not reach Okanagan Lake.

“It will put it into a lagoon and will treat the water there and dispose of it,” Newell said.

The regional district said the new collection system will be implemented this summer.

Newell said the system is in the design stage therefore the cost has not been finalized.