Dear Editor:
I attended the RDOS meeting May 17 regarding Compost Facility, Organics, and Carts and after hearing the most up to date version of this proposal, I cannot support the RDOS regional organic composting locating to Summerland.
Council and business have worked hard to develop a profile of Summerland for wineries, recreation, and tourism.
Bottleneck Drive covers the wineries and orchards of Summerland, many of these offering outdoor picnic and tasting facilities.
A regional composting facility will rebrand Summerland, giving it a new identity within the Okanagan.
Even the size of the infrastructure will be an obvious viewscape for tourists and residents, likely becoming a “what is it?” structure.
Odour modelling for the proposed site demonstrates that there will be odours, however the duration, concentration, location and timing of these odours is not documented.
The model shows peak odour at the first receptor (near west end of Prairie Valley Road) could change from 0.3 currently, to 18.0 at least once a year, a 60 fold increase.
Some odour maps for the range of possible treatments show odour patterns covering Prairie Valley and beyond. We know there is opportunity for odours to affect anywhere in the valley. Everyone can smell odour at a value of five odour units from the model.
The effect of fugitive odours not meeting the model can have a wide ranging effect on quality of life for residents; economy of tourism based facilities, and alters use patterns of recreational facilities and areas.
An estimated 10,000 truck trips per year (one way) based on 20 vehicles per workday, will add costs to road maintenance for District of Summerland.
Further, parents are concerned for their children’s safety already from heavy traffic on Summerland roads, and many walk their kids to and from school to ensure safety.
During my 38-year career in aquatic ecosystem management, I can advise that an alteration in existing circumstances of a watershed can change the behaviour of components within that system.
Even a change in relocating the existing landfill operation will risk causing changes that influence our water reservoir.
The RDOS is asking Summerlanders to decide on this proposal without adequate understanding, and limited data collection.
The likelihood of a breach event in leachate storage will be low, providing all infrastructure maintenance is timely and complete, miscommunication between staff is avoided, no catastrophic acts of God occur, and barrier materials remain intact.
Can we do this for the 20 plus year lifetime of the proposed facility?
The Okanagan is currently experiencing close to a one in 200 year flow event in many tributary streams and rivers.
This has a 0.5 per cent chance of occurring in any single year, yet I have witnessed three or four similar flooding events in the Okanagan during my career.
There will be some catastrophic natural event during the lifetime of the composting site, but will it be severe enough to change its relationship with the reservoir?
I cannot accept this risk.
Dave Smith
Summerland