By James Peters

City of Kamloops biosolids heading to Turtle Valley with Little Shuswap plan on hold

Mar 27, 2019 | 3:01 PM

KAMLOOPS — Biosolids produced by the City of Kamloops have a new destination, as the City’s contractor works through a hitch in its application plan.

In December, the City announced a two-year, $4.5-million contract with Arrow Transportation to compost 12,500 tonnes of biosolids produced annually, along with a 23,000-tonne stockpile.

Arrow had planned to do that at Talking Rock Golf Course, on Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band (LSLIB) land.

However, Arrow Vice-President Tim Bell says the federally-regulated permitting process for biosolid application on band land has taken longer than anticipated, forcing Arrow to find another destination in the interim.

Bell says until September 15 of this year, the biosolids will be taken to privately-held land in the Turtle Valley southeast of Chase.

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“In the interim, the Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band brought us another opportunity with one of their other partners, the Turtle Valley Bison Ranch,” said Bell. “We have gone through the provincial permitting in partnership with the band and the ranch on a soil program there.”

The application of biosolids has proven controversial throughout BC, and Bell says Arrow is working with the community near the Turtle Valley Bison Ranch to assuage concerns.

“Every project we go to, we engage the community in depth,” said Bell. “This project came up, and we started working door-to-door and started working with their community group, and on the weekend had a large community meeting with the residents there.”

“With any of these projects, you do always have some people who have concerns, and there are a lot of misconceptions out there on biosolids. We look forward to engaging with the community now and as this project goes forward.”

While the interim plan deviates significantly from the initial plan, the City of Kamloops says it is not concerned about the change.

“No concerns at all from the City of Kamloops perspective,” said Director of Civic Operations Jen Fretz. “We know that Arrow Transportation is very responsible in what they’re doing. Our contract with them is to compost the city’s biosolids. We know they’re doing that, and we know that they’re working with property owners in whatever location it is that they’re taking this material.”

Fretz notes the City knows the two-year window will elapse before long, and says City officials are still putting together a long term biosolids management strategy.

“The City continues to work on long term solutions. We will be in a place to be able to come back to council with more information probably around the end of second quarter, beginning of third quarter 2019, and then that will determine what we are doing going forward and how long we will need this contract with Arrow,” said Fretz.