Teck Coal hosted an open house to inform members of the community about their action on water quality.
LINDSAY GOSS
Pass Herald Reporter
Teck has taken its first steps in creating the Elk Valley Water Quality Plan by holding an open house in Elkford’s Community Conference Centre on Wednesday, June 12th from 2:00 - 7:00pm.
Members of Teck’s staff invited the community out to discuss concerns about Elkford and the Elk Valley’s water quality as well as to educate the public about their plans and goals for the future.
“Teck is committed to stabilizing the trends found in recent studies as well as engaging the community’s interests in water quality,” said Carla Fraser, Manager of Environmental Performance. “We’re here to educate the community and ultimately get information out there for people to understand.”
The open house allowed members of the public to come in and discuss the future regarding the water quality in the area. Information was available for those in attendance to read as well as Teck employees to discuss issues with.
The information outlined Teck’s plan to invest $600 million dollars over the next five years in areas of concern. Substances of concern, mostly through run off water from the mines, are selenium, cadmium, sulfate, nitrate and calcite. These minerals are found in the Elk Valley’s water supply, though mainly are known to affect aquatic life reproduction and habitat.
Teck’s strategy to stabilize the water quality is to focus on new water treatment facilities. Six plants will be operational at each of Teck’s Elk Valley Operations sites. As well, in addition to three water diversions already built in the Elk Valley, a portion of the $600 million dollars will be spent to construct new diversions. This prevents water from picking up any unwanted substances. The company is also working to research and develop new programs to improve water quality in the Elk Valley and plans to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the strategies in place.
The time line for creating the Elk Valley Water Quality plan is to develop terms of reference through creating extensive public consultation and guidance. This plan will be created over the next year at which time it will be submitted to the provincial government for approval. Teck is planning a public meeting with the beginnings of this plan, in which the public can approach third party representatives, separate from Teck, for information.
For information about the water quality action plan or to give feedback about the open house, the public can call 1-855-806-6854 or by email at feedbackteckcoal@teck.com.
