At first, anyway.
The Coldstream Ranch has certainly had more than its share of interference, I felt.
Especially with Coldstream Council's excessive and continual demands concerning the public charge of over-mining its Rosebush Gravel Pit, demands that--despite the provincial Right to Farm Act--placed huge reporting burdens and the monumental expense of having to retain an environmental consultant, Summit Environmental, for regular reporting to both the municipality and the Agricultural Land Commission. Neighbours had complained about dust from the gravel pit for years, even a neighbour two doors west of my residence--who was certainly NEVER in the dust's path because my residence didn't receive the dust, and my residence was closer to the gravel pit than his! But I digress...
I was not going to be one of the numerous Buchanan Road residents who placed more obstacles in the ranch's operational path.
While that may be a symptom of the insiduous societal disease known as "I'm all right, Jack"--and perhaps that's true to a point--there were two factors that piqued my interest late last winter when tanker trucks began rumbling past my residence, several times a day, as they would all summer long.
One factor was the widely-reported declining health of Coldstream Creek as it meanders westward from Noble Canyon in Lavington through Coldstream to spill into Kalamalka Lake, the drinking water supply for most of the City of Vernon. Water quality studies are now conducted regularly since the 1977 reports, with considerable pollution reported: "Mike Sokal, an impact assessment biologist with the Ministry of Environment, stated that there were several times during 2010/11 when nitrate levels exceeded guidelines, as did levels for the e.coli bacteria. “There is a chronic issue throughout the year,” he said...Something really should be done about that,” as reported in a Morning Star story June 15th, 2011.
The second factor didn't come into play until I was visiting a Buchanan Road friend last winter who lives not far from where the tanker truck's contents were being spread.
As she and I exercised the dogs and enjoyed the late winter sun's warmth--steaming coffee mugs gripped in gloved hands--a tractor-drawn boom sprayer chugged along the field opposite Buchanan Road, spraying what can only be described as liquid tar.
It was, in fact, so black in colour that it looked thick, and we wondered aloud how it could be emitted as a liquid from the boom sprayer's nozzles.
Within moments of the tractor plying its way along the still-frozen field, the smell hit us.
Literally hit us.
A smell so foul we both immediately spun around, turning our backs to the field, as though the move had been choreographed.
It was immediately reminiscent of what all Vernon residents will recall...that of years ago driving past Vernon's sewage treatment plant on 25th Avenue, whose open-to-air tanks had drivers gagging and rolling windows up. The unlucky ones didn't make it through the intersection before the light changed and had to endure the smell waiting for the light to return to green, all the while pitying the residents whose nearby homes ensured their constant exposure.
It wasn't the smell of cow poop on that field...it was the smell of people poop!
Stunned, we looked back at the field, whose previously thin cover of late winter snow was now covered in a black shiny goo.
Yes it was shiny.
Yes it was goo.
We both recalled the previous January's rare rain-on-frozen-ground event which led to severe flooding in East Coldstream valley and the contamination of drinking water supplies at Antwerp Springs. "What if it rains hard again," we wondered aloud, "all that stuff is going to head downhill into the creek and, ultimately, Vernon's drinking water supply."
My friend said "there's a sign about the spraying on the fence".
The sign, tacked to a fence where the snow had yet to be covered with the goo:
Sun-Rype in Kelowna, 35 miles south?
Wastewater treatment plant?
That brings the story up to the present, roughly 8 months after our late winter dog exercise day.
Today a District of Coldstream letter was received. Council had directed the letter to residents on Buchanan Road "located 200 metres on either side of the field on Coldstream Ranch where the biosolids were spread."
Here then, verbatim, is the report to Council from Bob Bibby, Building Official, dated October 22, 2012:
"SUBJECT: Spreading of Siosolids on Coldstream Ranch
1. Purpose: to provide information to Council regarding the spreading of biosolids on Coldstream Ranch property.
2: Origin: At the April 23, 2012 regular meeting, Council passed the following resolution:
Request for Information from Coldstream Ranch:
THAT staff be directed to contact Coldstream Ranch and inquire as to composition of the biosolids being spread on Ranch fields;
AND THAT staff be directed to prepare a report for Council's information regarding the regulations for the spreading of biosolids on agricultural land.
3. Background/Discussion
At the May 14, 2012 regular meeting, Council passed the following resolution:
Coldstream Ranch Spreading of Biosolids
. Report from the Building Official dated May 4, 2012
Moved by Besso, seconded by Kiss,
THAT staff be directed to invite representatives from Sun-Rype Products Ltd. and the Interior Health Authority to a future meeting of Council to provide information regarding the spreading of biosolids products on Coldstream Ranch property.
Before the question was called it was:
Moved by McClean, seconded by Cochrane,
THAT staff be directed to contact Sun-Rype Products Ltd. via the telephone number provided on the signage located at Coldstream Ranch and request, on behalf of Council, information regarding the spreading of biosolids on Coldstream Ranch property.
At Council's request, I have been in contact with Sun-Rype, who directed me to Rob Kupchanko, P.Ag Senior Environmentalist of Summit Environmental Consultants Inc.
Summit Environmental Consultants has been hired by Sun-Rype to attain a permit from the Ministry of Environment (MoE) to discharge Brant's(sic) Creek Trade Waste Treatment Plant (BCTTP) Biosolids and Sun-Rype's Plant Waste Juice on the Coldstream Ranch." (Ed. note: Kelowna's drinking water source protection report is here, and a photo from 2009 of the waste treatment facility is here).
"He (Kupchanko) has been hired by Sun-Rype to attain a Land Application Plan (LAP prepared in accordance with, and fulfillling the requirements of the Organic Matter Recycling Regulation (OMRR). Summit provides project management, field and technical support throughout the duration of the plan, which is designed to be implemented between 2012 and 2014.
I asked Rob to explain why wording on the mandatory signage was so restrictive stating:
' livestock must not be grazed on the site or 60 days after sludge application' and 'food for human consumption cannot be produced for 18 months on the site if harvested parts are above ground and for 38 months if harvested parts are below ground'.
The following is Rob's email response:
"Sludge and Waste Juice Characteristics (Summit, 2012):
The sludge is generated following treatment of the waste stream from the Sun-Rype and Andrew Peller facilities in the BCTTP. The waste stream consists of wash water and other liquid wastes generated on site from the processing of organic materials at Sun-Rype and Andrew Peller (primarily fruit and vegetables but may also include grains and other organic materials). The waste stream does not include domestic sewage (emphasis theirs) which enters the City of Kelowna's sewer system directly. The second waste stream, waste juice, is the result of carton breakage or spoilage at the Sun-Rype plant. This residual is stored on-site and removed for land application periodically.
The slude and waste juice are mainly organic in nature (emphasis theirs). The sludge meets OMRR Class B fecal coliform standards and Class A trace element standards. The waste juice meets OMRR Class A standards for pathogens and trace elements.
"The observed high fecal load was found in one of seven samples, which came from the treatment Plant and not from sewage." Kupchanko, Summit Env.
Fecal coliforms are the main distinguishing factor with respect to signage requirements under OMRR. I spok with Mike Reiner about this and he advises against changing of the wording. According to MoE, OMRR as a precaution assumes all sludge's(sic) with a high fecal load are the result of contamination with human wastes, which means that this material is to be handled more restrictively than manure hence the signage. The observed high fecal load was found in one of seven samples, which came from the treatment Plant and not from sewage. (emphasis blog author) Unfortunately these anomaly exceedences happen from time to time, and the term 'Biosolids' becomes misinterpreted, despite unrelated and low risk wastes like Sun-Rype's fruit processing waste from their treatment plant."
4. Conclusion:
In summary the ranch has met all provincial regulations and the fruit processing waste from Sun Rype is of low risk to the environment.
5. Recommendation:
THAT the report "Spreading of Biosolids on Coldstream Ranch" be received for information.
Respectfully submitted by: Bob Bibby, AScT, C.R.B.O. Building Official"
"Turns out the sludge was 'Vintage 1959'," offers Kia, "a fermented liquid made up of juice, wine and grains, which is all the sign really had to say."
Still wondering how a high fecal count can come from a treatment plant, yet not from sewage.
Will leave that to be mulled over by others.
"Looks like Mr. Floatie can stay in Victoria," concludes Kia, "but who will end up paying for the massive damage to Buchanan Road?"
Who indeed!
apple juice reeks,,,,lol...
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