RMR receives small fine for contaminating water supply
Revelstoke Mountain Resort was fined $460 for the actions of a contractor that contaminated the water supply of neighbouring residents last summer.
The resort was issued two violation tickets for making changes in or near a stream without lawful authority, Det.-Sgt. Cynthia Mann of the B.C. Conservation Office told the Times Review.
The charges stemmed from the contamination of Thomas Brook, which is the water source for about a dozen residents in the neighbourhood just south of the resort. The action left them without clean water for about month last August and September.
Mann said the fine is the maximum allowable under the specific section of the Water Act. “After carefully considering all of the facts of the investigation, the decision to issue the tickets was determined to be appropriate,” she said in an e-mail. She did not respond to several requests for a copy of the investigation report.
The situation last year has spurred the local residents to re-examine their water supply. After being presented with a slate of options they are looking at either upgrading their current water supply or connecting to the city water system, said resident Elmer Rorstad. The latter option would require being annexed to the city.
He said a meeting with Ministry of Health officials was planned for September to look at the current water supply and see what it would take to bring it into line with provincial standards.
“Basically we have to come to a decision here pretty quickly,” Rorstad said. “We have a five-year period to join the city and get water and come up with the best cost system that will satisfy the Ministry of Health.”
He said he would love to see RMR contribute to any costs but doesn’t consider that likely. “There’s not a lot of corporate will to do the right thing,” he said.
He also didn’t consider the $460 much of a deterrent. “My point of view is when we are going to see the good neighbour?”
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