Besso Airs Laundry in Letter to CBC

...ostensibly to "save" the South Kelowna Irrigation District from repeating her mistake (as one of the sitting councillors when these matters were voted on and advanced to referendum).  

So Coldstream Councillor Maria Besso wrote a letter to CBC's Daybreak South program. 

No indication if she was ever interviewed on the daily live program, so the councillor's letter is being reprinted in its entirety: 

"October 30, 2012

The dilemma of water in the Okanagan

It is nice to hear that the recent referendum to borrow 15.3 million dollars to upgrade the South Kelowna Irrigation District's water treatment facility has failed.

The reason that I am glad it has failed, is because finally, there may be some public attention and discussion of the unique problems, and questionable assumptions, that have been made in the name of drinking water protection in the Okanagan.

What nobody mentioned directly in yesterday's interviews is that pure money and the ability to borrow (emphasis blog author) and/or get government grants (from whatever level of government) is not always the answer.

The problem for the South Kelowna Irrigation District is the same as it was in 2004 for the North Okanagan.

In the North Okanagan we combined three water utilities in 2003, formerly it was known as the Vernon Irrigation District (combination of North Okanagan Water Utility, Vernon Water, and Coldstream Water). The new Greater Vernon Water Utility was run by the Regional District of the North Okanagan and could now qualify for senior government grants. We did a Master Water Plan and were able to borrow 15.4 million dollars (went to referendum) plus we got 3.3 million in grants from the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, and 10.5 million from a federal gas tax grant. In 2008 we started building the 29.2 million dollar Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant. The Plant took 18 months to build and was opened September 20th , of 2010. Our first full year of Operation was 2011 and we treated 13,375 Megalitres of water at an operating cost of 1.7 million dollars.

You would think all our troubles would be over, but instead we have a 29.2 million dollar, sate(sic) of the art plant treating very large volumes of water, to mostly spray on our agricultural and landscape fields. We have taken over all the irrigation distribution infrastructure (ie Pipes) to deliver this highly treated water, and really only 14% max is domestic and commercial drinking water (indoor use, OBWB supply and demand study). The rest has outdoor irrigation uses and does not need this high level of treatment.

"...either have to be given senior government grants for separating irrigation water from drinking water entirely or IHA has to relax or change the rules so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the North Okanagan."

District of Coldstream Councillor Maria Besso

You might ask yourself why would you use treated water for irrigation?

Well, it is for the same reason that the South Kelowna Irrigation District might have found itself in trouble if it had just been given the okay from electors to borrow the money for the "drinking" water upgrades. It is because you only have one set of pipes in the ground there is no magic second set of pipes to deliver untreated water to agriculture. You cannot get money (grants) for twinning agricultural pipes, you can only get it for water treatment facilities. So you have to build a huge water treatment plant to handle the peak summer irrigation demands, you treat all the water to this high standard (at great cost) and then you dump most of it on your fields.

"...cost anywhere from 60 million to 145 million dollars, depending on the amount of separation they choose to do, and needs to be funded by water rates."  

But who's the bad guy? Is it IHA? No not really they are just trying to protect human health.

The 'Drinking water Protection act was enacted April 11, 2001 after the Walkerton tragedy to protect the public from water born diseases. So the standards are meant for drinking water, and they are very good, but if 86% of the water you use is NOT for drinking AND both your irrigation water and your drinking water are using the same pipes and infrastructure, then you are unnecessarily treating a huge amount of water and that is a waste of taxpayers money. In our zeal to enforce drinking water

protection we are not taking into account that in the Okanagan we live in the driest water basin per capita in Canada. We are also not accounting for the fact that Agriculture relies on irrigation in the Okanagan. No irrigation, no crops, no crops, no farmland, no farmland no Okanagan identity. 

"...a huge waste of taxpayers money."

Someone needs to say to IHA that these water utilities are not just drinking water utilities - they have a dual purpose, and it is not economically feasible or desirable to treat irrigation water to the Drinking Water Protection standards. The unintended consequences of these well meaning regulations spell a huge waste of taxpayers money.

Water Utilities in the dry Okanagan either have to be given senior government grants for separating irrigation water from drinking water entirely or IHA has to relax or change the rules so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the North Okanagan.

You know that beautiful state of the art 29.2 million dollar water treatment plant we just built in the North Okanagan. Well, in the peak of summer 2011 demand, the plant treated 160 megaliters of water per day, in the winter time the water treatment plant only treated around 6 megalitres per day. That means that in the summer, approx. 96.25% of the water that is treated, is used for irrigation.

So now, after the fact, Greater Vernon Water is trying to play catch-up and separate the pipes, this is estimated to cost anywhere from 60 million to 145 million dollars, depending on the amount of separation they choose to do, and needs to be funded by water rates. Then we will still need a $20 million dollar filtration unit to be added to the Duteau Creek Water Treatment plant by 2015.

How much can the taxpayer take?   Sincerely, Maria Besso Coldstream Councillor"

 
There is no indication that Councillor Besso also contacted federal MP, Colin Mayes.

 "Or maybe she's saying "don't blame ME," offers Kia, adding "she might have political aspirations in Victoria...good place for her."

(See also John Hegler's letter:  http://northokanagandaily.blogspot.ca/2011/08/hegler-fuming-over-duteau-creek-water.html

Living on the Edge in Coldstream

...a hazardous place when it comes to fire boundaries.

Why?  Because neighbour helping neighbour belongs to a bygone age.
And it's being condoned by your elected officials if bureaucrats get their way.

As part of the ongoing--and never ending--editing of the District of Coldstream's Policy Manual under the guise of streamlining its principles and practices, Chief Administrative Officer Michael Stamhuis recommends the following policy to our elected officials:

"The District of Coldstream will not respond to any fire calls beyond the District of Coldstream's Fire Protection Boundary unless a mutual-aid agreement is in place."

Draft of Policy #FD08, To designate the response area for the Fire Department

Whether or not a mutual-aid agreement is in place won't be important as your--or your neighbour's--structure burns.  

And response delays caused by Fire Chiefs fumbling through streetmaps, or Google Streetview--all the while scanners and pagers crackling with alarm--doesn't bode well for public safety.

It's just a matter of knowing where you live, and the North Okanagan Regional District's Fire Boundary map may be a good place to start looking.

When it comes down to the potential risk to life and property posed by a fire--any fire--it would be reassuring to know that two fire halls respond--versus none--if your residence happens to be on the perimeter of two (or even three) fire jurisdictions, especially in the maze of boundaries found in the North Okanagan.

Ask any long-serving volunteer fire fighter and they'll shake their head in disbelief at the apparent need for a mutual-aid agreement (draft here), adding "They're our neighbours!  We respond to alarm and smoke;  to hell with a bureaucrat's paper boundaries". 

Bureaucrats justify their existence with paperwork.

"...in the District of Stamhuis," adds Kia.

Remember:  Primum non nocere?  First, do no harm!

It's that time of year

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay  (melodic)

It's tax-increase warnings day.

The first warning (of many over the next four months) appeared today in The Morning Star, headed "Hospital taxes climbing 13.8 per cent", with an amused--or embarrassed--photo of Councillor Dirk providing article symmetry.

"That translates to

 $10 an average house."

 Doug Dirk, Coldstream Councillor

Residents should dust off the property tax abacus and start with $10.00 as a tax increase.  Leave it on the coffee table as the next four months will be chock full of additional tax increase warnings. 

This time politicians are starting with something residents (and hospital staff) had been promised--and clamoured for--for years.  We have a new hospital and it's apparently now time "to begin paying off the debt."

...despite the two top floors remaining unfinished.

"The beads aren't only for counting...they can double as prayer beads," offers Kia.

The stage is set.
Fade to black, as Kia heads out to find an "average house" in Coldstream. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
 Next installment:

Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay  (melodic)

Parks, Recreation and "Culture" taxes:   1.87 per cent, announced in The Morning Star Dec. 21/12.

"That isn't enough to buy Coldstream that new mower..." sighs Kia.

"Bio-Solids" on Coldstream Ranch

To be blunt, I didn't care.
At first, anyway.

The Coldstream Ranch has certainly had more than its share of interference, I felt.
Especially with Coldstream Council's excessive and continual demands concerning the public charge of over-mining its Rosebush Gravel Pit, demands that--despite the provincial Right to Farm Act--placed huge reporting burdens and the monumental expense of having to retain an environmental consultant, Summit Environmental, for regular reporting to both the municipality and the Agricultural Land Commission.  Neighbours had complained about dust from the gravel pit for years, even a neighbour two doors west of my residence--who was certainly NEVER in the dust's path because my residence didn't receive the dust, and my residence was closer to the gravel pit than his! But I digress...

I was not going to be one of the numerous Buchanan Road residents who placed more obstacles in the ranch's operational path. 

While that may be a symptom of the insiduous societal disease known as "I'm all right, Jack"--and perhaps that's true to a point--there were two factors that piqued my interest late last winter when tanker trucks began rumbling past my residence, several times a day, as they would all summer long.

One factor was the widely-reported declining health of Coldstream Creek as it meanders westward from Noble Canyon in Lavington through Coldstream to spill into Kalamalka Lake, the drinking water supply for most of the City of Vernon.  Water quality studies are now conducted regularly since the 1977 reports, with considerable pollution reported:  "Mike Sokal, an impact assessment biologist with the Ministry of Environment, stated that there were several times during 2010/11 when nitrate levels exceeded guidelines, as did levels for the e.coli bacteria.  “There is a chronic issue throughout the year,” he said...Something really should be done about that,” as reported in a Morning Star story June 15th, 2011.

The second factor didn't come into play until I was visiting a Buchanan Road friend last winter who lives not far from where the tanker truck's contents were being spread.
As she and I exercised the dogs and enjoyed the late winter sun's warmth--steaming coffee mugs gripped in gloved hands--a tractor-drawn boom sprayer chugged along the field opposite Buchanan Road, spraying what can only be described as liquid tar.

It was, in fact, so black in colour that it looked thick, and we wondered aloud how it could be emitted as a liquid from the boom sprayer's nozzles.

Within moments of the tractor plying its way along the still-frozen field, the smell hit us.
Literally hit us.
A smell so foul we both immediately spun around, turning our backs to the field, as though the move had been choreographed. 

It was immediately reminiscent of what all Vernon residents will recall...that of years ago driving past Vernon's sewage treatment plant on 25th Avenue, whose open-to-air tanks had drivers gagging and rolling windows up.  The unlucky ones didn't make it through the intersection before the light changed and had to endure the smell waiting for the light to return to green, all the while pitying the residents whose nearby homes ensured their constant exposure.

It wasn't the smell of cow poop on that field...it was the smell of people poop!

Stunned, we looked back at the field, whose previously thin cover of late winter snow was now covered in a black shiny goo.
Yes it was shiny.
Yes it was goo.

We both recalled the previous January's rare rain-on-frozen-ground event which led to severe flooding in East Coldstream valley and the contamination of drinking water supplies at Antwerp Springs.  "What if it rains hard again," we wondered aloud, "all that stuff is going to head downhill into the creek and, ultimately, Vernon's drinking water supply."

My friend said "there's a sign about the spraying on the fence".

The sign, tacked to a fence where the snow had yet to be covered with the goo:

Sun-Rype in Kelowna, 35 miles south?

Wastewater treatment plant?

That brings the story up to the present, roughly 8 months after our late winter dog exercise day.
   
Today a District of Coldstream letter was received.  Council had directed the letter to residents on Buchanan Road "located 200 metres on either side of the field on Coldstream Ranch where the biosolids were spread."

Here then, verbatim, is the report to Council from Bob Bibby, Building Official, dated October 22, 2012:

"SUBJECT:  Spreading of Siosolids on Coldstream Ranch
1.  Purpose:  to provide information to Council regarding the spreading of biosolids on Coldstream Ranch property.
2:  Origin:  At the April 23, 2012 regular meeting, Council passed the following resolution:
Request for Information from Coldstream Ranch:
THAT staff be directed to contact Coldstream Ranch and inquire as to composition of the biosolids being spread on Ranch fields;
AND THAT  staff be directed to prepare a report for Council's information regarding the regulations for the spreading of biosolids on agricultural land.
3.  Background/Discussion
At the May 14, 2012 regular meeting, Council passed the following resolution:
Coldstream Ranch Spreading of Biosolids
. Report from the Building Official dated May 4, 2012
Moved by Besso, seconded by Kiss,
THAT staff be directed to invite representatives from Sun-Rype Products Ltd. and the Interior Health Authority to a future meeting of Council to provide information regarding the spreading of biosolids products on Coldstream Ranch property. 
Before the question was called it was:
Moved by McClean, seconded by Cochrane, 
THAT staff be directed to contact Sun-Rype Products Ltd. via the telephone number provided on the signage located at Coldstream Ranch and request, on behalf of Council, information regarding the spreading of biosolids on Coldstream Ranch property.

At Council's request, I have been in contact with Sun-Rype, who directed me to Rob Kupchanko, P.Ag Senior Environmentalist of Summit Environmental Consultants Inc.

Summit Environmental Consultants has been hired by Sun-Rype to attain a permit from the Ministry of Environment (MoE) to discharge Brant's(sic) Creek Trade Waste Treatment Plant (BCTTP) Biosolids and Sun-Rype's Plant Waste Juice on the Coldstream Ranch."   (Ed. note:  Kelowna's drinking water source protection report is here, and a photo from 2009 of the waste treatment facility is here). 

"He (Kupchanko) has been hired by Sun-Rype to attain a Land Application Plan (LAP prepared in accordance with, and fulfillling the requirements of the Organic Matter Recycling Regulation (OMRR).  Summit provides project management, field and technical support throughout the duration of the plan, which is designed to be implemented between 2012 and 2014.

I asked Rob to explain why wording on the mandatory signage was so restrictive stating:
   ' livestock must not be grazed on the site or 60 days after sludge application' and 'food for human consumption cannot be produced for 18 months on the site if harvested parts are above ground and for 38 months if harvested parts are below ground'.

The following is Rob's email response:
  "Sludge and Waste Juice Characteristics (Summit, 2012): 
The sludge is generated following treatment of the waste stream from the Sun-Rype and Andrew Peller facilities in the BCTTP.  The waste stream consists of wash water and other liquid wastes generated on site from the processing of organic materials at Sun-Rype and Andrew Peller (primarily fruit and vegetables but may also include grains and other organic materials).  The waste stream does not include domestic sewage (emphasis theirs) which enters the City of Kelowna's sewer system directly.  The second waste stream, waste juice, is the result of carton breakage or spoilage at the Sun-Rype plant.  This residual is stored on-site and removed for land application periodically.
The slude and waste juice are mainly organic in nature (emphasis theirs).  The sludge meets OMRR Class B fecal coliform standards and Class A trace element standards.  The waste juice meets OMRR Class A standards for pathogens and trace elements.

"The observed high fecal load was found in one of seven samples, which came from the treatment Plant and not from sewage."  Kupchanko, Summit Env.

  Signage:
Fecal coliforms are the main distinguishing factor with respect to signage requirements under OMRR.  I spok with Mike Reiner about this and he advises against changing of the wording.  According to MoE, OMRR as a precaution assumes all sludge's(sic) with a high fecal load are the result of contamination with human wastes, which means that this material is to be handled more restrictively than manure hence the signage.  The observed high fecal load was found in one of seven samples, which came from the treatment Plant and not from sewage. (emphasis blog author) Unfortunately these anomaly exceedences happen from time to time, and the term 'Biosolids' becomes misinterpreted, despite unrelated and low risk wastes like Sun-Rype's fruit processing waste from their treatment plant."
4.  Conclusion:
In summary the ranch has met all provincial regulations and the fruit processing waste from Sun Rype is of low risk to the environment.
5.  Recommendation:
THAT the report "Spreading of Biosolids on Coldstream Ranch" be received for information.
Respectfully submitted by:  Bob Bibby, AScT, C.R.B.O.  Building Official"

"Turns out the sludge was 'Vintage 1959'," offers Kia, "a fermented liquid made up of juice, wine and grains, which is all the sign really had to say."

Still wondering how a high fecal count can come from a treatment plant, yet not from sewage.

Will leave that to be mulled over by others.

"Looks like Mr. Floatie can stay in Victoria," concludes Kia, "but who will end up paying for the massive damage to Buchanan Road?"

Who indeed! 

Coldstream's new Dog Park

Buchanan Road will have a dog park!

Or, soon will have, once the Regional District installs some fencing and dedicates a name, according to Coldstream Council.

Title to the former Vi-Mor Meadows dog agility property at 8312 Buchanan Road has officially been bequeathed to the District of Coldstream, as specified in the owner's will.

The 1.40 ha (~3.5 acre) south slope property was last used for dog agility trials about 10 years ago.

Events were held once or twice a year (usually over long weekends in summer) and appeared well attended.  Countless motor homes, campers, trucks and vans were parked for the weekend on Buchanan Road's wide and grassy (unditched) south shoulder for a half mile in both directions of the site entrance.

Lavington Park and Armstrong's Interior Provincial Exhibition grounds have been recent venues for sanctioned trials, and are very popular with the public.  Locally, Dog-O-Pogo is responsible for registrations and memberships for sanctioned events.  Their website confirms a May 2013 event will be held at Armstrong, with a June event in Lavington.  Several clinics and fun matches are also held each year.

Perhaps one will be located here at the new Dog Park!  The immediate benefit would be that the District of Coldstream would presumably have grounds maintenance help from the group's membership.

A few photos, taken today, of Coldstream's newest Dog Park: 

the entrance at 8312 Buchanan Road, Coldstream

Needs a bit of work:

Maybe we'll see these fun events again on Buchanan Road.

Dog agility events are fun for the whole family to watch.

More photos, taken today:

     The previous owner had levelled several areas into terraces.    

    

                 

          Another terrace on the new dog park property.                    

  Alongside the second terrace, an old travel trailer abuts the slope, and an old port-a-potty is seen.                            

       The view south from the top terrace.  This terraced area is gravelled.    

                   

    Some of the area's long-time residents recall this building being moved here about 30 years ago)...I remember it was moved, but can't recall whether it was a school building as some people thought.                          

      An odd place for property line boundary posts...this appears to bisect the property, providing a second access (paved) to the residence East.                        

This is the paved driveway with iron pins marking property boundaries (that appear to dissect the property from east to west) which leads to the residence East of the new dog park. Very odd configuration....probably explained by a covenant on the land title.

     Stairs connect terraced areas.  Power and water connections are  located in several places on the property.                     

A new residence nears completion on the west:   

The new owner will likely discover the proposed use when he sees the District of Coldstream's Development Permit Application posted on the roadfront...(maybe local governments don't need to follow development rules for land use.)

Perhaps the residents of Coldstream will show their gratitude for this land gift by keeping the name the owner had chosen for the site...Vi-Mor Meadows. 

"Or Vi-Mor Dog Park," offers Kia, "to show they're welcome there."