Tens of thousands of gallons of sewage from Whistler is pouring into the town's treatment system, having secured permits based on a vague policy that municipal managers intend to review.
District of Squamish chief administrative office (CAO) Ramsay said both he and the new municipal manager of operation, Bob Smith learned several companies were trucking sewage from Whistler into to town, only last week.
"All I know is apparently the previous manager of operations Gord Prescott gave approval I think there's two or three of them that are dumping there," he said.
Response to a Freedom of Information request filed by The Chief earlier this week indicated that Carney's Waste Systems and Tuc's Contracting are permitted to dump up to 40,000 gallons of waste a day each into the municipal system at a cost of $5 per 100 gallons, or $2,000 each per day.
Ramsay said third-party waste dumping is permitted under an existing District of Squamish bylaw, but he has concerns about the vague policy direction.
"We allow, by permit, outside agencies to pay to dump raw sewage in to be treated by our plant. I just have some concerns around how we've actually operated the practice of that and so we are looking at that," he said.
"My concern from Squamish's perspective is number one, are they following the bylaw in their dumping practices? And number two, does the bylaw adequately represent Squamish's needs?
"There's more than saying 'Yes you can.' It's 'What's the overall plan?'"
Although Ramsay said he has no idea how much waste is being dumped into the facility at this time, he said he plans to investigate the matter.
"As far as how much and of what the scope of this is, that's what our operations manager Bob Smith is looking into now."
Local environmental advocate John Buchanan said he's received calls from neighbours of the treatment facility near Mamquam Road who have reported seeing several trucks on a daily basis.
"I did take a photograph of the truck, which seems to be coming down on a pretty regular basis but I don't know how many trucks are coming down what quantities we're talking about," he said.
Buchanan said he believes the sewage may be from a temporary Department of National Defence (DND) base in the Callahan Valley for the 2010 Olympic Games.
The $40 million project is expected to house up to 1,800 DND and Canadian Forces personnel well into April 2010.
The district's treatment facility is not at or nearing capacity, according to Ramsay, so the only concern is the long-term implications of such practices.
"For liquid waste we're OK, so that's not the concern that I understand but again I do, ask where we go with this," he said. "It's an established bylaw that has been in place for a number of years as I understand and now it's looking at should we review the bylaw and reassess?"
