Private charges laid over sewage treatment

Acoalition of environmental organizations has filed a private prosecution against the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the provincial government, accusing them of allowing toxic sewage to be pumped into Burrard Inlet.

The Sierra Legal Defence Fund and the Georgia Strait Alliance allege that the Lions Gate sewage treatment plant in West Vancouver frequently violates pollution standards under the federal Fisheries Act.

The GVRD's own monthly scientific tests show the Lions Gate plant regularly fails to meet federal standards, alliance spokeswoman Christianne Wilhemson said.

"Our ultimate goal is to get the various levels of government to enforce the laws that are supposed to be protecting our environment, and to start acting now to upgrade Lions Gate to at least secondary sewage treatment," she said.

The Lions Gate plant has only primary sewage treatment facilities, which does not remove many of the toxic chemicals and heavy metals found in sewage, Wilhemson said.

Toivo Allas, the GVRD's manager of policy planning, maintains the sewage plant is operating within guidelines established by the provincial and federal governments.

However, he acknowledged that "on occasion," the discharge from the West Vancouver facility fails to pass tests involving fish.

"Some of the fish do not survive the test," he said.

The GVRD is developing plans to install secondary treatment at the plant by 2030, Allas said.

In order for the private prosecution to go ahead, the charges would have to be approved by a judge later this month.