A Central Lonsdale man is demanding to know why his favourite creek appears to be treated like a dump site.
Roy Mulder has documented more than a dozen cases of apparent deleterious substances showing up in Wagg Creek, which runs diagonally through the City of North Vancouver and feeds into Mosquito Creek at Mahon Park. It often takes the form of white cloudy water or turbidity so high it’s unlikely to be naturally occurring. On other occasions he could smell the substance in the water before he could see it.
“In 10 years, I’m up to 17 spills and that’s without being there every day. In the last couple of weeks it was seven spills. That tells me there’s a site that’s regularly spilling,” Mulder said.
Mulder has been reporting the spills to the City of North Vancouver, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Environment and Climate Change Canada but he has seen little real action taken.
“We’ve got what seems to be a really adequate spill reporting system but we’re really inadequate of actually dealing with it,” he said.
Wagg Creek is a fish-bearing stream. It’s also a popular spot for people walking their dogs. “You see this totally gross, white turbid water and you see the ducks drinking out of it go ‘Well, that can’t be good.’”
Mulder said he suspects the substances are entering the storm drain systems at residential construction sites near to the creek, where bricklaying and cement pouring are happening.
Mulder said he wants to see someone tasked with getting to the sites quickly enough to take water samples and then investigate who is responsible.
In a statement, the city said it takes spills seriously.
“When we’re alerted to potential pollution, we investigate immediately and try to determine where it is coming from, what it is, and if it can be recovered,” city spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley said. “Staff review construction activity in the nearby area and patrol the local neighbourhood to see if they can identify the source. Unfortunately, it is often very difficult to determine exactly where contamination is coming from.”
Environment and Climate Change Canada also released a statement in response.
“Since the incident was reported, ECCC has attended the site to gather more information on the stream’s water quality and potential sources of the substance reported to have entered the stream. ECCC will continue to monitor the situation, and keep in close contact with the City of Vancouver,” the statement read.
Mulder said there is some irony in the fact that North Vancouver’s MP, Jonathan Wilkinson, is Canada’s minister of fisheries and oceans.
“This is literally 17 blocks from his office,” Mulder said.
Wilkinson later posted on social media that he would be looking into the Wagg Creek matter.
In the meantime, Mulder said he is open to seeing more public awareness about the dangers of letting hazardous substances steep into the storm drain system - a message the North Shore Streamkeepers Society promotes.
“All storm drains lead to streams and we ask the public to be really careful about the things they put down the storm drains. That includes washing cars and that includes construction sites,” said Barbara Frisken, society president. “From our point of view on the ground, we have a procedure and we follow it. It’s just frustrating that it doesn’t generate the response that we hope it would.”
Anyone who spots potential pollution in the water is asked to call DFO’s Observe Report Record line 604-607-4186 or Emergency Management BC at 1-800-663-3456.
If the creek is in the City of North Vancouver, Streamkeepers recommends calling the city’s operations department at 604-987-7155 (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday) or after hours on the emergency line at 604-988-2212.
