Province kicking in $950K for water system upgrade

Steel Springs Water District residents under water-quality advisory since 2014

The provincial government has come up with nearly $1 million to improve drinking water for people in Spallumcheen.

The province is providing $950,000 to support alternative drinking water sources, fund treatment for domestic well users and develop environmentally appropriate farming practices in the Hullcar Valley, the ministries of environment and agriculture announced in a Friday afternoon news release.

About 200 residents within Steel Springs Water District have been under a water-quality advisory since 2014 because of elevated nitrate levels in their local drinking water source, the Hullcar aquifer 103.

Most of the residents say their water is being contaminated by local farms, but the Environment Ministry has responded that a combination of factors are likely affecting the aquifer, with nitrate pollution coming from several sources.

In the past two weeks, the government has been taking a beating in the legislature from NDP critics over the breach of a sewage lagoon in the area. About 120,000 gallons of sewage effluent at Gracemar Farms spilled out of the lagoon.

Ministry staff have issued pollution-abatement and pollution-prevention orders to nine agricultural operations in the Spallumcheen area, Environment Minister Mary Polak responded when questioned about the lagoon breach by the NDP's George Heyman.

The province will work with the Township of Spallumcheen, Splatsin First Nation, Steele Springs Water District, Interior Health and First Nations Health Authority to bring the alternative drinking water sources online.

A portion of the funding will also be used to develop and implement nutrient management plans for farms located over the Hullcar Aquifer. This investment will include an action plan for agricultural operators.