Controversy appears to have dogged the Manitoba government’s discharge of tailings-laced water near Sherridon right to the bitter end.
The province completed a 10-day partial discharge of Camp Lake into the much larger Kississing Lake on June 13. It was part of a years-long project to clean up decades-old tailings in the tiny northern town.
Debi Hatch, a Sherridon community councillor who has been critical of the discharge, said residents were given less than 12 hours’ notice for the final community meeting to discuss the initiative.
“No one attended,” she said.
Dr. Chris Beaumont-Smith, director of the province’s mines branch, said the government first notified the community of the June 1 meeting on May 30, but did not confirm the meeting date until May 31.
He said confirmation was announced on the afternoon of May 31 for a meeting the following day at 5 pm. Until then it was not clear whether a flight to Flin Flon could be arranged, he said.
Beaumont-Smith confirmed that no residents attended the meeting.
“It is unfortunate that the community did not attend, as they had requested some additional water sampling after our last meeting,” he said.
Hatch further said the Camp Lake discharge had to be halted on June 5 when the tailings became suspended by high winds.
She said the discharge did not stop until residents complained, even though they had been assured the work would halt if the water quality changed.
Beaumont-Smith confirmed the discharge was temporarily halted when a portion of Camp Lake became “turbid,” or cloudy, “well away from the discharge point.”
“Our on-site consultants were aware of and monitoring the turbidity,” he said. “We did suspend the discharge until the following day, to acknowledge the concerns of the community and ensure we could assess the situation during daylight hours. Upon review, it was determined the bulk of the water was discharged with turbidity at or below detectible limits and that the discharge could be safely resumed. As the water samples indicate, turbidity did increase near the end [of the discharge] but remained well within MMER [Metal Mining Effluent Regulations] limits.”
Controversy around the reclamation project may not be over. Hatch said there would be much community opposition if the province enacts plans to reroute Sherlett Creek back into Camp Lake and allow the latter lake to flow freely into Kississing Lake.
“It is apparent that wave action suspends the tailings and turns Camp Lake orange. We want Camp Lake water isolated,” she said.
Hatch said rerouting Sherlett Creek would also destroy a spawning creek that was restored in 2009 as a result of mining-related damage.
“This spawning creek is used each spring and has resulted in fish coming back into areas where they have not been seen in years,” she said.
Beaumont-Smith said the Sherlett Creek issue has been excluded from this year’s reclamation work so that it can be discussed separately with residents to acknowledge and respect their concerns.
He said the plan to reroute creek water back through Camp Lake is expected to improve long-term water quality.
“Additional sampling through the remainder of this year is expected to provide additional data to help inform this conversation going forward,” said Beaumont-Smith. “We are also in discussion with [Fish-eries and Oceans Canada] regarding the habitat issue.”
Sherridon is located 113 road km northeast of Flin Flon.
