Work to alleviate a potentially unhealthy upwelling of sewage from a long-forgotten septic tank in a Squamish trailer park should begin this week, the landowner said.
Chief Bill Williams, who owns the Riverside Trailer Park on Squamish Nation reserve land just off Government Road in Brackendale, on Monday (July 9) said he expected to have a contractor on site this week to dig up the underground septic tank next to John Porietis's home.
Porietis recently phoned The Chief to complain that little was being done to alleviate his concerns about sewage bubbling to the surface from the underground tank. He admitted that a nearby communal septic tank had recently been pumped out but said he worried about the health effects and potential damage to his mobile home from having surface sewage right next to the home.
All I know is that it stinks like hell, it's black, when my wife does dishes it boils out of the ground, Porietis said in late June. Exacerbating the problem is a nearby water pipe that has been steadily leaking water, ensuring that the water table near his trailer remains right at the surface.
Porietis recently dug a trench to funnel the water and sewage under a fence and out toward Government Road. But he knows that's merely a stop-gap measure and as recently as Friday (July 6), he was still waiting for the park's owners to take action.
The smell gets worse when the weather heats up, Porietis said, adding that his wife has been quite ill in recent months and he wouldn't be surprised if the sewage is at least partly to blame.
Porietis last week filed an application with the Residential Tenancy Branch for forgiveness of his pad rental fee during the six weeks since the problem surfaced.
With all the people I've been talking to, the biggest concern seems to be whose jurisdiction it is, Porietis said. The town doesn't want anything to do with it because it's native land. Meanwhile, I'm dealing with sewage.
Linda Pillsworth, regional manager for environmental health with Health Canada, on June 29 said sewage on the surface is definitely a health concern.
That would not be acceptable, but if the surface water is dealt with, that would mitigate any issues. Essentially it's human effluent and if there are children or animals walking nearby it can lead to transmission of a variety of illnesses, she said.
Pillsworth said a Health Canada inspector recently visited the site and reported that the property owner appeared to be getting a handle on the situation.
They're following through on immediate actions that are needed and we, of course, want to be sure that they have the mechanisms needed to prevent it from happening again, she said.
Williams said the septic tanks were installed when the Riverside Trailer Park was first developed in the 1970s.
After Williams became aware of the problem recently, the communal tank was fixed tree roots had pushed in the tank's sides, reducing its carrying capacity, he said. It has taken a bit longer to deal with the tank next to Porietis's home because a contractor had to be hired to dig it up, Williams said.
We'll try and get it done as quickly as possible, he said.
Williams said he's recently been talking to an engineer about putting the whole trailer park on proper sewer lines that will link up to the town system. Plans are also in the works to fix any leaks in the trailer park's internal water delivery system, he said.
