Prince George, B.C. – Researchers and staff from the University of Northern BC have released their initial findings from the Mt. Polley tailings pond breach.

The sampling and monitoring was initiated by staff at UNBC’s Dr. Max Blouw Quesnel River Research Centre (QRRC) near Likely where they found the following:

– There is a plume of fine sediment that extends over an area of many tens of square kilometres that is concentrated at depth in the water column of Quesnel Lake and centred around the area where Hazeltine Creek enters the lake. The Plume is moving both down the lake (towards the town of Likely) and up the lake (past Cariboo Island).

-Water sample analyses show that the plume is composed of very fine particles with a median diameter of approximately 1 micron (a human hair is 40 to 50 microns wide).

– Further analysis shows that the water in the sediment plume is higher in metals concentrations compared to water samples collected above the plume, and that the metals are mainly associated with the fine sediment.

“The goal of the research was to discover what’s in the plume, where’s the plume and what are the patterns in the plume,” says QRRC Manager Sam Albers.

In addition he says it will be some time before they figure out the effects it will have on resident fish.

“If there are metals occurring in the food web they have the potential to be transferred to these larger, bigger fish that people have personal and commercial interests in. That’s the concern but we won’t know that for five to 10 years and we’re setting up sampling programs to be monitoring that.”

He says it has not been the focus of their research to determine how safe the water is noting that’s the responsibility of Interior Health and the provincial government.