Mt. Polley water quality changing — IHA
(Govt of B.C. photo)
NEWS/ MOUNT POLLEY — Water quality in Quesnel Lake is changing, and residents there may notice increased turbidity, sediment and changes in taste or odour, says the Interior Health Authority.
The news comes after two and half weeks of water-sample tests have shown the water is safe to drink in the wake of the B.C. Day tailings-pond failure at the Mount Polley Mine.
In a media release late Saturday night, the IHA said that continues to be the case but now “reports indicate that water quality is changing as lake water and the sediment plume shifts.”
It said residents “may wish to consider” using alternate sources of water, and should not drink the water if it’s cloudy. Proper point-of-use filters will safely remove suspended sediment, the IHA said.
A Do Not Use order for water in the impact zone around the tailings pond remains in effect, including drinking, swimming and fishing.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
The Cariboo Regional District Emergency Operations Centre , has another Likely Community Hall meeting at 7 P.M. Aug 26 on the Mt Polley tailings facility breach . It is now a “facility “, almost drinkable until a new adjective comes along for the communications officers to consider to use . Coprolite happens !
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Bizarre wording. If there is any question, Imperial metals should be providing drinking water until it is back to pre mine levels (if they even know what that is, it doesn’t sound like baseline sampling was done in the nineties?) Why should any people be compelled to drink poorer quality water because of the huge mistake made by Imperial?
Using standards instead of having baseline statistics publicly available leads to a lot of guessing and doesn’t really answer the questions of the public. We should pressure the government for much better environmental assessments and transparency!
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These media releases are weird. The statement “residents may wish to consider using alternate sources of water” is perplexing. Are they suggesting that one can drink the water but with some risk ? Why make this suggestion at all? What alternate water sources would they be thinking of ? I mean, if the water coming out of my tap is unusable, what should I do? Dig a well in my backyard? Purchase a lot of bottled water? Shower at Grandma’s house?
At this point, we need the unedited, unvarnished truth. If there is any doubt about the quality of water, then people should be told not to use it. Period. In the realm of public health, there should be no such thing as mostly drinkable water. I don’t know if the govt really understands what most scientists and mining experts have already said. We have a DISASTER on our hands. Don’t try to polish this turd.
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