Despite a request by Moncton’s mayor to stop the spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in the Turtle Creek watershed, Mayor Dawn Arnold says spraying has begun.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday morning, Arnold said she learned the planned spraying by JD Irving had started and was informing the public that City of Moncton staff were on site monitoring the process.
“The sprayers are not breaking the law, since they do have a permit from the province to aerial spray,” wrote Arnold.
READ MORE: Moncton mayor calls for halt to glyphosate spraying inside city’s watershed
Earlier this month, a notice was sent to the city indicating spraying would be conducted on Crown land in the Turtle Creek region between Aug. 5 and Sept. 30.
On Wednesday Arnold said she would be meeting with the mayors of Dieppe and Riverview about the issue next week and that Moncton council would also be “very involved.”
She remarked on the various messages she’s received from individuals and groups concerned about the spraying.
“The safety of our water supply is of utmost importance to all of us,” she wrote.
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READ MORE: N.B. protesters gather outside village hall in hopes of preventing glyphosate spraying near homes
Current regulations restrict aerial herbicide spraying to within 3.2 kilometres of the reservoirs. But in the letter, Arnold asked the no-spray zone be expanded to include land within the entire watershed indicated on this map.
In an emailed statement from the province’s Department of Environment, spokesperson Marc Andre Chiasson confirmed spraying began Wednesday morning and was expected to conclude the same day.
He said though they recognize there are concerns over the product’s safety, but that the province “continues to rely on the expert evaluation and decisions from Health Canada to make decisions based on facts and scientific data.”
It added that the City of Moncton samples the watershed during herbicide spray and analyses for glyphosate but has not presented any data to the department that indicates the presence of herbicides.
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