Imperial Metals Gets Nod To Pump Water From Polley Lake
Prince George, B.C. – The provincial government is giving another thumbs up to test results from water samples taken following the tailings pond breach at the Mount Polley mine last Monday.
Environment Minister Mary Polak says “for the third straight day we have received water quality sample results that meet B.C.’s of Health Canada’s drinking water guidelines. Today’s results are water samples collected August 6th from six sites in both Quesnel Lake and along Quesnel River. This reinforces (Interior Health Chief Medical Health Officer) Dr. Corneil’s decision yesterday (Friday) to rescind part of the water ban. The partial ban remains in effect until the shore samples taken by Ministry of Environment staff from Polley Lake on August 7th have been tested and analyzed and we expect those results no later than Monday.”
Polak says “we have received Polley Lake shore samples taken by Imperial Metals. Lab results showing that water quality near Polley Lake is relatively unaffected when compared to the baseline data taken by the MOE since the late 1980s. While Interior Health wants to have these additional samples before they fully rescind the ban, both the province and Interior Health have agreed today that, based on these first encouraging results, Imperial Metals can begin diverting water from Polley Lake to Hazeltine Creek using a discharge pipe.”
Polak says “First Nations have also been consulted and have expressed support for this decision. We recognize that they have concerns around the company’s samplings and this is one of the reasons why we will be paying close attention to the sample results from the Ministry of Environment. Obviously if there was any discrepancy between the two we would be taking action to cease the activities that we’ve described.”
Polak says the water flowing into Quesnel Lake will be tested daily. “We remain confident that once the diluted water from Polley Lake reaches Quesnel Lake it will be of drinking water standards.” The minister continued “the risk of a further breach resulting from a build-up of water in Polley Lake is just too great a risk for us not to allow this important emergency work to occur. By controlling the release of the water from Polley Lake we are significantly reducing any potential risks to human health or safety in the coming days.” Polak says her ministry is committed to getting full and accurate results as soon as possible.
Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett says he’ll have more to say about the investigation of this event next week and will also have something to say about other tailings ponds at other mine sites. Bennett also says “the engineer of record who designed and oversaw the construction of the tailings pond and dam has issued some public communications. Certainly I think they did what any engineer of record would do which is to send a letter to the ministry and to the company which said “these are our closing thoughts as we leave this project and hand it over to a different engineer of record. It’s a large dam, it’s a large pond, there’s a lot of water, there are things you need to watch out for, and we’re moving on and we will no longer be the engineer of record”. Bennett says “that’s not a warning, it’s been characterized that way but it’s not a warning, it’s actually a fairly typical letter that you’d get from any engineer of record leaving a project.”
The minister concluded by saying “I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of litigation around this in the future and I’m sure that everyone is very concerned about their responsibilities.”
The map of the discharge pipe route from Polley Lake to Hazeltine Creek is available at:
http://wwwt.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/pdf/PolleyLakeDischagePlan_20140808.pdf
Comments
Why any company, regional district, or government would allow a tailings pond of that size to be built just doesn’t make sense. I would think 10 smaller ponds would reduce this risk. I don’t care if it costs the company more to build them, this would not have occurred on this large a scale. Hopefully something to put in to practice in the future. Hey, Imperial Metals, are you listening? Common Sense???
Have not heard of any fish or wildlife kill since this breach. ?????
Bennett needs to go back to school if we can find him a teacher.
HE can go to krustys kids private school
There has been a limited fish kill but that was to be expected mud and fish gills do not go well together.
And I know you naysayers are looking for a smoking gun because you are such positive people but the wildlife will rebound and any issues caused by the flood will be temporary.
Heavy metals are expected to be minor as most stayed within the tailings pond
Let the crying begin
Heavy metals are expected to be minor as most stayed within the tailings pond.- Can I buy you some glasses?
It’s fairly obvious you never been around a tailings pond nor understand how they work if you actually looked at any of the pictures of the pond you can clearly see the vast majority of the mud stayed inside the pond it was only the mud near the breach that went outside and nobody knows for sure how far down that mud went and there is a good chance most if not all stayed out of the water systems. When heavy metals sink they collegiate the mud and make it damn near immovable and it requires heavy equipment to move said mud.
Water testing at this point does not take in the effects because the water flow has not even reached these testing sites yet for the most part.
Get busy,clean it up. I thought the government was supposed to be ready for emergencies. I forgot- they may want to study this for three more years.
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