Fraser Valley (Sophia Northeast – BCIT Radio Arts and Entertainment ) – GFL a waste management company contracted by the city of Abbotsford found through investigation that waste from their facility had been discharged into a ditch that runs into the Lonzo Creek.
The company was flagged on March 15, 2022, by the Ministry of Environment preceding their inspection on January 31 where environmental protection officers inspected the company’s Vye Road facility. This facility collects municipal waste from construction, such as drywall to used oil and recyclables.
Despite officers observing materials being collected and stored in respective piles along with an oil-water separator on site the facility failed to meet two environmental guild lines mentioned in the report.
A sample is taken from a storm drain inside the Abbotsford facility and one leaving found water discharge that contained aluminum, ammonia, arsenic, boron, cobalt, manganese, nitrate, penz(a)anthracene, penzo(a)pyrene, pluoranthene, phenanthrene, and pyrene above levels that are considered acceptable.
Samples that were tested from inside the facility showed that a 33 percent effluent concentration caused a 50 percent mortality rate within rainbow trout and a 44 percent caused a 50 percent rate in Daphnia Magna.
The contract GFL has with the City of Abbotsford is set to expire next year in 2023.
When asked how this could affect future contracts a spokesperson from the city issued this statement.
“All City of Abbotsford contractors are expected to meet applicable municipal, regional, provincial, and federal government regulations. The City does not take responsibility for third-party fines or damages resulting from non-compliance incidents. If a contractor are/is out of compliance with senior government regulations, we would work with the contractor to rectify the concern before taking any actions to end the agreement. In this specific incident, City of Abbotsford staff have been in communication with the contractor and have been made aware of their intention to diligently resolve compliance issues at their site. Excessive odour and/or leachate issues and complaints, or continued non-compliance with municipal, regional, provincial, and federal government regulations, or unreasonable stockpiling waste may influence future service delivery expectations for upcoming competitive process in 2023 with the contract expires.”
The Ministry of Environment is prioritizing follow-up investigations as the company was given 30 days to cease unauthorized discharges. This is the company’s first infraction, results of the follow-up inspections are yet to be disclosed.
