Provincial officials say follow-up tests prove water from a lake near Sherridon can be safely discharged, but the mayor of the tiny town wants the government to use stricter standards.
Officials planned to release water from Camp Lake into the much larger Kississing Lake last week but agreed to postpone the move until Sherridon town council could order independent lab tests on the water.
A provincial spokesperson said the government received copies of the town’s test data on Wednesday with results similar to those already obtained by the province.
Although the province said its tests showed the water is safe for release, government officials have delayed a discharge until a community meeting can be held. No date was set as of press time.
“Manitoba Mineral Resources and Conservation and Water Stewardship are committed to working with the community to advance the mine remediation project and protect the safety and health of local residents,” the spokesperson told The Reminder.
Sherridon Mayor Nick Benyk wants the province to use stricter standards when interpreting the test results.
He said the province is relying on standards for mining effluent discharge when it should be using the much more stringent standards for aquatic life.
Benyk said mining effluent standards are not usually applied in cases where water will be discharged into a lake near a human population that uses the water to swim, boat and fish, as is the case in Sherridon.
He said he realizes there is a “tipping point” at which something must be done
but added Sherridon is unwilling to “degrade” the quality of water in front of the community.
Debi Hatch, a town councillor in Sherridon, concurred. “We don’t want to gamble with Kississing,” she said.
Hatch said the community was told Tuesday that the province wants to release one quarter of the water in Camp Lake, or 500 cubic metres.
Asked whether Sherridon is distrustful of the government at this point, Benyk said, “I would say that’s probably close.”
He said Sherridon wanted its own tests of samples from Camp Lake given the unusual appearance of the water.
“If you look at that [previously published] picture [of the lake], it’s looking like tomato juice,” Benyk said. “Wouldn’t that cause you to wonder if it is as good as everybody’s saying it is? It doesn’t look that clear or inviting to me, so we wanted to get an independent deal where we could confirm what was actually in it.”
The province has attributed the orange appearance of Camp Lake to high iron content, which it does not consider a contaminant.
The spokesperson said the province’s water tests measured not only dissolved metals such as iron, but also pH, water hardness and total suspended solids.
“The test results done by the Government of Manitoba show the water quality meets the federal Mining and Mineral Effluent Regula-tions and provincial guidelines for release,” said the spokesperson. “The results also show that the water quality is slowly degrading as a result of materials negatively affecting water quality.”
In 2009, the province launched a multimillion-dollar project to remediate decades-old mine waste in Sherridon, a town of about 85 people situated 60 km northeast of Flin Flon.
The project involved relocating the waste, known as tailings, into Camp Lake and submerging it in water. The last of the tailings were moved in 2013.
The province said water from Camp Lake must be released to ensure it does not overflow the lake control dams, and to allow work to remove material harming the water quality.
“The Manitoba government wants to lower the water in Camp Lake in a safe and responsible manner so we can complete the remediation project of Sherridon Mine,” said the spokesperson. “Staff from multiple departments are on site and involved, working with the community to find a way to do so.”
As for Benyk, he said Wednesday that Sherridon was planning an open community meeting to discuss the situation as soon as possible.
