The knock came on the door at 5:30 a.m. Monday in the town of Likely, B.C., and a local volunteer alerted Peggy Zorn of an emergency: a tailings pond breach at the Mount Polley Mine about 75 kilometres southeast of Quesnel. Zorn was told to get down to Polley Lake and take her boat out of the water due to potential contamination.
A total water ban was issued for the community after the 3:45 a.m. breach of the tailings pond sent an estimated five million cubic metres of contaminated water crashing through its barriers.
The earthen dam holding waste water from the Mount Polley mine had been breached, sending its contents into Hazeltine Creek, said Cariboo Regional District chair Al Richmond, noting that most of the waste appears to have been contained in the creek, although some has flowed into Quesnel Lake and Polley Lake.
Zorn and her husband Gary run Pyna-Tee-Ah Lodge in Likely. Her husband was already out with a group of Swiss tourists to view wildlife 鈥� they had left before 5:30 a.m.
By the time they got back, there was a run on bottled water at the local store.
鈥淭his is an absolute tragedy,鈥� said Gary Zorn. 鈥淨uesnel Lake is the deepest fiord lake in North America, and it is absolutely pristine.
鈥淭his is one of the most unique interior rainforests on the earth. We have big salmon runs, grizzly bears, mountain caribou, pristine alpine, glaciers, you name it. I鈥檓 very concerned for the environment, the water, the fish, all the people who have homes on the lake.鈥�
Skeed Borkowski, owner of Northern Lights Lodge, a destination fly-fishing lodge on Quesnel Lake, ran his boat up to the point where Hazeltine Creek hits Quesnel Lake.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just incredible. Huge logs are washed up on shore. I couldn鈥檛 go any further up the lake because of the debris.鈥�
Borkowski noted that the lake was known for being pristine. 鈥淭his is the kind of water where I鈥檇 go out on a boat and take a cup with me and drink the water as you鈥檙e fishing. And clients are astounded by that.鈥�
On Monday, local residents were flooding to the Valley General Store in Likely to buy what bottled water was available.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a lot of the big jugs, just the smaller containers,鈥� said store owner Aileen Peterson. 鈥淲e expect we鈥檒l run out of the big jugs today.鈥�
Peterson said she and her family are basically living at the store right now, because their home draws water from the lake.
鈥淲e can come here and cook and clean up and everything and then go home to bed,鈥� said Peterson. 鈥淲e have living space behind the store.鈥�
Peterson said most people in the community have their own wells, so they are not yet impacted by the water ban. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 upset, but doing fine. They鈥檒l be doing water testing and we鈥檒l have a better idea shortly on how contaminated it is.鈥�
Lodge owners are now turning away business and telling their current clients to leave.
鈥淚鈥檓 one pissed-off individual,鈥� said Borkowski, who moved to the area 45 years ago with his wife, Sharon. 鈥淭his is devastating. I have four submersibles in the lake and they鈥檙e all compromised.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 displaced anyone yet, but they will have to leave shortly,鈥� added Borkowski, who said his clients 鈥� including mining employees, half a dozen fly fishers, and a family from the Netherlands 鈥� are now relying on bottled water. 鈥淲e are going to lose these people. We can鈥檛 rent now. No one is allowed to wash, drink, anything with the water.
鈥淚鈥檓 scrambling around right now trying to secure my docks before this debris comes down (the river).
鈥淲e fish the Upper and Lower Quesnel rivers. But that鈥檚 been eliminated. I don鈥檛 know where to take these people fishing, because these are the rivers that I fish.鈥�
Craig Ritson, owner of Quesnel Lakeshore Room and Board, owns two properties on Quesnel Lake: a guest house that he also lives in, and a separate rental unit on the other side of the lake.
Ritson, who moved to the area from the Okanagan in 2007 because of the better water supply, said he can鈥檛 rent rooms now because they draw water from the lake.
Ritson said that while the economic impact of the tailings pond breach is a big concern, there is also concern about how it impacts the salmon.
鈥淩ight now, the salmon are just coming in. And anything they absorb will go into the system. Just like Squamish, we have a tremendous amount of eagles that show up for this salmon spawning.鈥�
Matt McCracken of the Morehead Lake Cabins and Campsite said that although they draw their water from a deep well, not from the contaminated waterways, they are very concerned about the environmental threat of contaminants spilling into Quesnel Lake and the size of the spill.
鈥淭he water that came down was ripping out big trees, and now the trees are in (Polley Lake), which could rip out the bridge that connects Likely to 150 Mile House,鈥� said Kucharczyk.
