Discolouration raises alarm at Stoney Creek

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 24, 2006


A contractor drilling to find groundwater on Smith Avenue in Coquitlam was ordered to install new sediment control measures after being found responsible for a discolouration of water in Stoney Creek on Wednesday afternoon.

The discharge, which turned the salmon-bearing waterway into a milk-white stream for several hours, resulted in several complaints to the environmental health departments in both Burnaby and Coquitlam.

A subsequent investigation found there was no obvious effect on fish habitat, said Ken Wright, general manager of engineering and public works for the City of Coquitlam.

"Basically, it was sediment from the drilling operation," Wright said. "We've told them to get proper sedimentation measures in place, and that has been done."

Although Wright was able to confirm that the contractor was drilling for groundwater, he did not know if that work was on behalf of a private property developer or as part of the preconstruction phase of the new Evergreen rapid transit line, which is scheduled to open in late 2009.

Coquitlam staff were also unable to confirm reports that the sediment was accompanied by a chemical-like smell, which alerted at least one jogger to the discharge.

"We didn't see anything that would lead us to believe there was any kind of chemical in the area," Wright said. "The only thing was a drilling operation. ... There were no dead fish."

The Burnaby NOW was first alerted to the incident just before 4 p.m. Wednesday, when an anonymous caller reported a milk-white discharge was entering the creek from a culvert behind Rathburn Street.

When a reporter arrived on the scene within 10 minutes, the creek was still visibly discoloured but there was no smell.

Dipak Dattani, manager of environmental engineering in Burnaby, said his staff was able to confirm the discolouration of water but turned the investigation over to Coquitlam because that's where the discharge apparently came from.

"We have no jurisdiction in Coquitlam," Dattani said.

The caller said he was first alerted to the problem at about 3:15 p.m. when he was jogging alongside the creek on a trail near Burnaby Mountain secondary school and smelled something "like paint or thinner" coming from the creek.

After calling the authorities and taking staff from both Coquitlam and Burnaby city halls on a tour of the creek, the jogger then called the newspaper.