While the CSRD and NORD dither, the TNRD steps up to the plate with cash for watershed protection…

City, South Thompson to contribute to Shuswap
By CAM FORTEMS
Daily News Staff Reporter

Worries about massive algae blooms as well as toxic substances in Shuswap Lake have pushed regional politicians into contributing to a water quality monitoring program. Regional district politicians who live along the southern Thompson watershed agreed in principle Thursday to fund a project aimed at protecting Shuswap Lake.

Ian McGregor, a Ministry of Environment manager in Kamloops who heads the Shuswap Lake Integrated Planning Process (SLIPP), presented a report to the TNRD outlining its history and current plans.

The contribution from this region toward the $335,000 annual project for three years represents about 16 per cent of the properties on the system. The biggest contribution will come from Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, which is slated to chip in $214,000. It is home to about 64 per cent of the properties on Shuswap Lake.

‘It’s our intake and the watershed where we’re getting our water,’ TNRD chairman and Kamloops mayor Peter Milobar said of contribution from city taxpayers. ‘We’d be interested in next steps.’ Staff will determine how to apportion the $53,000 contribution from this regional district among municipalities and unincorporated areas along the system.

In 2007, a University of B.C. adjunct professor warned of nanoparticles and endocrine disruptors contained in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products contained in outfall from private sewage plants on the lake. Ministry of Environment testing has also found elevated levels of fecal coliform along popular swimming and boating areas.

‘I’ve lived here 40 years and when I first moved here you could dip your cup in the crystal clear water and take a drink,’ said Shuswap activist Jim Cooperman. ‘Now they warn not to drink the water.’ Cooperman applauded the TNRD for taking the lead while other regional districts are not yet willing.

He said the biggest threats to water quality are houseboats, leaking septic systems, agricultural runoff and outfall from a small number of private septic systems. In 2008 a rare algae bloom grew to about 50 kilometres in length on Shuswap Lake and a similar bloom made an appearance on Mara Lake this year.

Directors whose areas border Shuswap Lake as well as the South Thompson and Thompson rivers downstream voted to contribute to SLIPP. ‘Anything that affects our water intake we have to take seriously,’ said director Marg Spina.

Andy Anderson, mayor of Ashcroft, said the village will contribute to a program due to worries about algae that could eventually make its way down the river system to the municipality’s intake.

The SLIPP budget is pared down almost by half after the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District rejected a larger budget. The new budget will focus on water quality and will leave out a recreation management plan looking at whether there are too many ski boats and houseboats on the lake, for example.

‘There’s a lot of recreation on Shuswap Lake. Some of it’s not that safe. We’d like to do a plan,’ McGregor said. He said eventually areas may be zoned for high-speed boating, for example, while others would be off limits to motorboats.

But for now the focus is on protecting water quality from sewage outfall and agricultural runoff. It will include testing and education for boaters and residents.
Governments involved in SLIPP include regional districts, Ministry of Environment and Department of Fisheries and Oceans.