Recently, I talked with Pitt Meadows Coun. Bill Dingwall, mayoralty candidate in 2018, about environmental issues.
JE: Five years ago, Pitt Meadows ordered a citizen to remove garbage from Katzie Slough. Yet, the city digs holes in the dike off Neaves Road, containing ditch sludge laced with industrial waste, plastic, electronics.
On April 10, a city staffer told me it hasn’t been picked out as it should be. Should Pitt Meadows bury garbage along a salmon river?
BD: We shouldn’t be dumping this way. There’s a review that should lead to newer best practices. We need to sift the sludge, so what goes in is more natural.
JE: Between 2005 and 2013, local citizens asked the Ministry of Environment, and Fisheries and Oceans to remove a barge on the South Alouette River, but each pointed to others to do it.
Are you frustrated when senior governments drop the ball?
BD: MOE doesn’t have the resources to deal with this properly. Take the gun club in Pitt Meadows. The issue is soil and water contamination from lead shot. Residents did analysis, as did the club. There has to be a third party. The residents and club could get together and secure a consultant to do sampling.
JE: Should the city sample?
BD: The city has interest in land use. It doesn’t mean we do the testing. The club should do a site-profile, including soil testing. The city can pass that to the province, so there’s a record. We can’t pass the buck. Our residents expect us to deal with land use.
JE: Long-time residents have canoed Katzie Slough. Today, weeds make paddling nearly impossible. Yet the city spends thousands on weed removal. Can Pitt Meadows control weeds so folks can enjoy Katzie Slough again?
BD: We need to come up with solutions and proper dollar investment for invasive species. We’re missing opportunities for recreation on Katzie Slough
JE: Geoff Clayton of ARMS says salmon have struggled up the North Alouette River to spawn. He believes the issues is a gross abstraction of water from hundreds of licences issued without knowing the cumulative affect on aquatic life.
The DFO told ARMS it doesn’t have staff to ensure adequate flows for fish in the face of massive water withdrawals.
Clayton calls for no new licences until a farm water use and allocation plan is implemented with real-time monitoring of water use compared to a graph of fish friendly water flow, users to give volumes and times of extracting, data recorded in a central government location.” The city, he adds, should make it available in monthly reports.
BD: We need to pressure senior government to provide education, review licences, step in with action, best practices, and work with all stakeholders, so that council can determine what we can do. The city is engaging in a riparian management strategy plan. Those reviews will give us more understanding around this.
JE: Recently, I sent Pitt Meadows a picture of roofing material dumped along Neaves Road near protected habitat. The city removed it. A year ago, I reported a similar mess. The city bylaw officer said then that Pitt Meadows didn’t have ability to gather evidence against such behaviour. The local conversation officer doesn’t, either. Should the city and MOE work jointly on this problem?
BD: Dumping’s been an issue in Pitt Meadows. Do we reach out to MOE with a joint plan? It wouldn’t’ take many prosecutions to tell people it’s not worth it. One of the simplest ways to catch offenders is a $300 hunting camera in those areas. Getting it cleaned up is first priority. N0. 2 is education – telling people dumping is unsightly, and unhealthy.
If it’s a hardship to get rid of material like drywall, people will dump it. There’s a city role to make it easier.
JE: Last year, tests of Katzie Slough revealed fecal coliform higher than recommended for agriculture. A sewage pipe running from Maple Ridge to Pitt Meadows won’t be decommissioned until 2022. City engineer Forest Smith says Pitt Meadows has water monitoring equipment, but it won’t measure coliform. What can the city do?
BD: If we have water sampling in the city, we should be able to spot test for fecal coliform. This is one of those things that should come up with the riparian management plan. Staff will suggest how to work with Maple Ridge to deal with sewage overflows before 2022. If it costs a few dollars to do some sampling, is it worth it?
JE: Katzie Slough could over-winter chinook fry except for low oxygen levels, low flow. A Watershed Watch letter asks residents to request Pitt Meadows embrace the goals of fish friendly pump stations and flood gates to replace old unfriendly ones.
BD: I’m sympathetic to those pushing from an environment and fish friendly agenda. Decision makers need to balance the needs of all stakeholders and the pros and cons, and costs.
JE: Do you have a boyhood story to reflect your connection to the outdoors?
BD: I want my grandkids to know how important the environment is, the outdoors. It’s about our survival. When I want to de-stress, I come out to my garden. So, dumping on the side of the road has no place for me.
Jack Emberly is a retired teacher, local author and environmentalist.