Non-compliance with provincial regulations at landfills will be the topic of further discussions between the Columbia Shuswap Regional District and the provincial ministry of environment.
An Environment Ministry representative addressed the regional district’s Aug. 20 board meeting to discuss the ministry’s process of ensuring compliance with landfill operating agreements. The board requested a more in-depth discussion of landfill compliance at a later date and the ministry representatives agreed.
Ben Van Nostrand, the regional district’s environmental health services team leader, also provided an update on authorizations and compliance at landfills in the area. He detailed work that had been done to bring the Salmon Arm landfill into compliance, including a solid waste management plan review and update approved in June 2019, an amendment to the landfill’s operating certificate which was submitted in the spring of 2020, and an update to the landfill’s design operation and closure plan submitted to the ministry. He noted that both the operation certificate update and design and closure plan are awaiting approval from the province.
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Meanwhile, work is underway on the third phase of the Salmon Arm landfill and Van Nostrand said trucks could be dumping there by late fall of this year.
Similar issues with design plans and operational certificates arose for the Revelstoke and Sicamous landfills, which both had compliance issues raised after inspections by the ministry in recent years.
A report which followed a June 2019 inspection of the Revelstoke landfill brought up water quality issues, a lack of monitoring for landfill gas and exposed waste on the slopes of the landfill.
Van Nostrand’s report noted improvements including the installation of landfill gas monitoring wells, closure work beginning on the first phase of the landfill and the hiring of new contractors.
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A design operation and closure plan for the Sicamous landfill, which Van Nostrand’s report noted was submitted in the summer of 2018, has not been approved by the province yet.
Fines of up to $300,000 were threatened over the results of the 2019 inspection at the Revelstoke landfill and a warning letter cites a provision under the Environmental Management Act which could result in a fine of up to $1 million or imprisonment for up to six months for non compliance with a landfill’s operational certificate.
-With files from Jocelyn Doll
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