‘Raw sewage and burnt horse hooves’: Another toxic spill found in Hope Slough

Toxic waste has ended up in a fish-bearing waterway in the Fraser Valley for the second time since September.

Members of the Cheam and Sqwá First Nations said they recently discovered a pipe spewing industrial waste into the Hope Slough near Rosedale.

In September, the Nations said a toxic spill in the same slough may have killed up to 1,000 juvenile salmon.

In this latest case, a thick and white foamy substance could be seen for kilometres along the waterway where adult coho salmon are currently migrating.

“This pipe is a permanent fixture which leads us to believe that this is not a one-time offence but an ongoing polluter to these environmentally crucial waterways,” the Cheam First Nation said in a statement.

1:52 Spill kills thousands of fish in Fraser Valley waterway

The Nation said the Ministry of Environment and Parks declined to respond to the spill so it is covering the cost of the cleanup.

However, the ministry did provide Global News with a statement saying as a result of the first reported incident, a multi-agency response was launched.
“We understand from Fraser Health and the City of Chilliwack that there is currently no risk to drinking water in the area as drinking water intakes are not directly connected to Hope Slough,” the ministry said in a statement.

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“On Nov. 28, the Ministry of Environment and Parks received a new report of poor water quality in the Hope Slough and have been following-up since receiving the report.

“The Ministry is working with all partners, including Cheam First Nation and Environment and Climate Change Canada, to understand the nature of this new spill and locate the source(s) causing the deteriorated water quality.”

The First Nation said the smell was offensive.

“It had a smell similar to raw sewage and burnt horse hooves,” Roxanna Kooistra with the Cheam First Nation Environmental Department told Global News.

“It was disgusting. You could smell it from far away. When they tested the water they were able to tell that the dissolved oxygen, which is what fish require to survive, was at zero. That means it would suffocate any fish in its path.”

The First Nations are working with Environment and Climate Change Canada to identify possible sources of the pollution.