Dear Editor:
It was good to see so many Summerlanders in the IOOF hall last Wednesday night to listen to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen proposal to put a regional composting site in Summerland.
The Summerland choice is a terrible idea! If our drinking water is wrecked, we are unlikely to be able to fix the problem.
Our drinking water is supplied by a Kettle Lake, which is filled by ground water and some rain.
The provincial rule is that a water supply must be 300 metres from a landfill. Kettle Lake is slightly more than 300 metres away, the closest water source to a landfill in B.C.
I have read that there would likely be an odour problem in the Marron Valley but not in Summerland. Why not? There is already a stink from our landfill.
An RDOS technician took air current samples in Summerland, but at the research station, not where the composting site would be with air currents flowing through Prairie Valley.
Our major tourist attraction, the Kettle Valley Steam Railway, could be majorly affected. Who wants to ride in open train cars breathing sewer smells?
We were told the composting site would be fully enclosed and no odours would escape. One woman even waxed ecstatically about how such a composting site near Edmonton is wonderful. Yes, maybe, but it’s not near a drinking water source nor in a valley’s air flow current. The trouble is, there have been odour problems at other such enclosed composting sites.
We were assured that only 20 to 25 trucks of biosolids (sewage) from the South Okanagan would be traveling through Summerland each day on Prairie Valley Road past two schools. There are already traffic problems and surface deterioration on that road from large logging trucks.
The population of the Okanagan is statistically outpacing other regions in B.C. and the nation as a whole. Since this area is growing so quickly, the number of sewage trucks would not stay static. Here are some statistics from 2011 to 2016 regarding population growth. Osoyoos: five per cent Oliver: 2.2 per cent, Summerland: three per cent, Penticton: 2.7 per cent, Keremeos: 12.9 per cent.
The trucks would be supplied and run by a private contractor. The RDOS presentation assured us that trucks leaking sewage would be banned. Good luck policing them either along our road system or up near our water supply.
We were also assured that food waste would be separated from sewage sludge compost. Sewage sludge has a lot of pharmaceuticals and other chemicals in it that cannot be removed with present technology. Orchardists say they would not use human sludge compost because it could damage their industry.
So, what is this all about? Location and money we might get from the operation.
No amount of money could compensate for wrecking our water supply, creating potential odour and creating more traffic on Prairie Valley Road.
Marilyn Hansen
Summerland