PEACHLAND, BC – It’s costing the Transportation Ministry several hundred thousand dollars every year to deal with a persistent pollution problem in the hills west of Peachland.
The construction of the Okanagan Connector highway exposed pyrite rock deposits that created acid rock drainage.
Polluted water was threatening fish in Pennask Creek, which is one of BC’s most productive and important trout spawning streams.
The ministry was forced to build a pollution control system where the acidic water is captured, treated and removed for safe disposal elsewhere.
That has cost up to $400,000 annually for 15 years in operational and maintenance costs.
An engineering firm has been hired to try to find a more cost efficient, long term solution to the pollution problem.
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