Shawnigan Lake soil dumping protests attract hundreds on Vancouver Island

More than 500 people gatheredat Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Islandon Wednesday morning to raise awareness about the effects of dumping allegedlycontaminatedsoil nearthe community's watershed.

The province has granted a permit to allowthe dumping ofsalt water dredgings from Port Moodyinto a quarry near the Vancouver Island lake. But thousands of people in the area north of Victoria rely on the watershed for drinking water.

"We want people to understand thisis not anNIMBYissue.This is a contaminated landfill that got approved without going through the government's own process," saidShawniganLakeregional directorSoniaFurstenau.

On Wednesday, protesters blocked the way for trucks to access the landfill where the soil is dumped.

"As they continue to roll trucks in, people continue to show up and get in the way and voice their concerns and say no, this is wrong, and we won't allow it anymore," said nearby resident Shelagh Bell-Irving.

Children's singerRaffiadded his voice to the chorus of people fighting the provincial government's decision.

The regional districtsent helicopters above the site to give local politicians a chance to see the dumping first hand.

The provincial government has been doing testing of the water and shared the results at a public meeting in July. Itsaidthe levels of chemicals are within provincial standards,ornaturally occurring in the soil.

But Furstenau says the region'sown testing shows otherwise.

"Iron, manganese, now we're seeing levels of sodium and sulphurs are steadilyincreasing in the water coming off the site," she said.

The province isallowingup to 100,000 tonnes of soil peryear to be stored above the lake.