Residents of a float home community in Ladner say their houses are at risk of permanently running aground if something isn’t done to address rising silt levels.
Canoe Pass Village resident Ted Dufresne says for the past five to seven years, float homes have begun grounding and walkways are cracking because of a buildup of silt brought in by the moving waters of the Fraser River.
His home has been damaged twice after a wood piling hit the eaves during low tide.
Dufresne says during extreme low tides, water levels in the area drop more than a foot below normal tides.
The grounding, he says, is causing some homes to lean, which could not only damage the outside, but it could also cause things inside the home to fall off shelves and walls or cause residents to lose their balance.
Fellow resident David Bahrynowski says not long ago, 20 of the community’s 43 homes were grounded at low tide. And with the spring freshet bringing more silt, he expects the issue to worsen.
Dufresne says thankfully damage has been minimal, but governments need to take action soon.
“What needs to be done is the dredging of the secondary channels and all the way from Captain’s Cove,” he said. “If that dredging is done, then the silt has a place to go as opposed to here.”
Dufresne says he feels the provincial and federal governments keep shifting responsibility to the other, leaving residents waiting.
“The lack of action by the government to remediate the situation is causing an uncomfortable and dangerous situation for everyone who lives in the area and any of the boaters that use this waterway,” he said.
He says Delta South MLA Ian Paton delivered a petition with hundreds of signatures asking the province to remediate the situation, but so far, no action has been taken in the immediate area.
The BC United MLA has been advocating to the federal and provincial government since he was in city council.
“Why can’t the combination of the federal government and the provincial government come up with roughly maybe $1.5 to $2 million a year to keep up some maintenance dredging on a yearly basis so that we don’t have to let it get so bad so that every 10 years we don’t have to go chasing down $10 or $11 million dollars for another big dredging project,” Paton said.
The B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship wrote in a statement “there is a need for a broader regional dredging program and long-term, sustainable channel maintenance program.” However, it says it will also be important to know how removing river sediment will impact fish habitat and marsh ecosystems.
The ministry says it will require the participation of the federal government before any dredging can happen.
Meanwhile, the community has applied for a dredging permit, but it could be a lengthy process.