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Author Topic: Copper/gold mine tailings pond failure contaminates the Quesnel lake watershed  (Read 47404 times)

salmonrook

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You had the feeling that the government was not going to make the mine clean this mess up ,instead just monitor it to see what the effluent will do to Quesnel lake.
 Its time for the someone to take serious action so this disaster is taken more seriously ,re: a cleanup
 Drawing a comparison to the CN rail deraliment in the Cheakamus river, CN was fined and made to rebuilt all fish stocks.
 Fortunately ,I guess, that was one chemical that because of river flow ,it was was downriver within 1-2 days.
 Of course it wiped out everything in its path.
 These  fish stocks have since returned
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rjs

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  • work is over rated !!!!

move along folks..... nothing to see here, right Christy !!! or crusty ?
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salmonrook

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Thanks for the implication of government cleanup actions.
 
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shuswapsteve

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Thanks for the implication of government cleanup actions.

The links were not provided to imply "government cleanup actions".  One refers to the ongoing investigation while the other refers to the sampling techniques used to monitor the lake. However, any planned clean-up or remediation work can't really occur before the scope of the situation is monitored. Can't really start scooping up stuff (that's assuming that it's possible) without some idea what you are scooping up and whether it is toxic or not.
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speycaster

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Why do all that testing? Just net Polley lake, if they do not find many fish then the stuff is toxic. After all they have stocked that lake for years, so they know the quantity of fish put in there. Testing a couple of kilometers from the event is going to give a lot of lower readings.
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shuswapsteve

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Why do all that testing? Just net Polley lake, if they do not find many fish then the stuff is toxic. After all they have stocked that lake for years, so they know the quantity of fish put in there. Testing a couple of kilometers from the event is going to give a lot of lower readings.

The testing is necessary because its not certain of the bioavailability of the metals in the water and their potential impact to various life stages of fish in Quesnel Lake.  As for testing a couple of kilometers from the event....well that's kind of important also especially if you are talking about people's drinking water and potential impacts to aquatic life. First Nation groups wanted reassurances that the salmon they were harvesting were safe to eat. Need to know the extent of potential impact given the proximity of the incident to the Quesnel River which in turn flows into Fraser River - not just ground zero.

Although not directly from Polley Lake, the Ministry of Environment has already done Rainbow Trout toxicity tests from water at Quesnel Lake at the mouth of Hazeltine Creek.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/pdf/aug14/moe-expan-memo-Aug56-rainbow-trout-Toxicity-Tests-QL%20at-Hazeltine.pdf

Fish tissue samples were also taken from Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake.  Not a huge sample size from one of the surveys, but think this is just the beginning of what is going to be longer term monitoring.

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/pdf/aug22/Fish-Deep-Water-Testing_Aug_22_14.pdf
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/pdf/aug22/Memo-Fish-Tissue-Quality-Aug8.pdf
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/eemp/incidents/2014/mount-polley/pdf/20140910/Memo-Fish-Tissue-Quality-Aug9-10.pdf

Are you sure that Polley Lake is stocked? It's not coming up as a stocked lake in the FFSBC database. I used to fish that lake back in the late 80s. I believe it is supported by natural recruitment. Wasn't hard to catch fish out of that lake.
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skaha

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http://www.unbc.ca/releases/35250/unbc-releases-initial-findings-tailings-pond-breach

--latest update of on going research
--It is important to keep pressure on Government. One would think this is important enough to have some money dumped into additional research costs rather than take away money from other current Quesnel lake research projects.
« Last Edit: October 08, 2014, 10:17:05 PM by skaha »
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StillAqua

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Perhaps gives you an idea of how any oil spills in BC will be handled by our gov'ts. If UNBC hadn't been already doing research, we might only know the party line.

That plume of very fine sediment spreading out in the lake and into the river is disturbing and you have to wonder how it will affect the gills of all the juvenile sockeye salmon rearing in the lake and vertically migrating through it to feed on surface plankton, or the Chinook eggs incubating in the river gravels.
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skaha

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--I guess the response time to the Russian vessel..gives us an indications of how the Best in the World work.
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skaha

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Rehabilitation and Restoration Phase

Imperial has assembled a group of experts with global experience to carry out a program of rehabilitation and restoration in the areas affected by the breach.

•Hazeltine Creek: The Gavin Lake Road and Ditch Road bridges over Hazeltine Creek have both been repaired. Rehabilitation of Hazeltine Creek will include reconstruction of the channel, and restoration of riparian habitat along the creek banks. Construction of a set of sedimentation ponds has commenced in the lower reaches of Hazeltine Creek to remove suspended solids from the water before it enters into Quesnel Lake. A revegetation program will be implemented to reestablish a productive ecosystem, and for water management in order to control sedimentation. An initial seeding of fast germinating grasses was completed on all exposed areas in Hazeltine Creek. The rehabilitation will include the establishment of spawning and rearing habitat for fish.
•Polley Lake: The outlet of Polley Lake will also be restored to reconnect Polley Lake to Hazeltine Creek. This will be completed by building a new channel with consideration for access by fish from Polley Lake to spawn in the upper reaches of Hazeltine Creek.

--Quote from the Caboodle...williams lk news
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