Price tag for RDCK flood clean up could run in the two million dollar range
By Erin Perkins
The landslides, damage to the dam at the HB Mine near Salmo and flooding experienced throughout the region over the past months could cost between one and two million dollars by the time the clean up is done Regional District of Central Kootenay chair John Kettle told The Nelson Daily.
The last few months has been a whirlwind of disaster for the RDCK. A whirlwind Kettle has dubbed the “perfect storm”.
Besides the a miriad of natural disasters — dyke damage at the Hudsons Bay (HB) tailings pond near Salmo on July 3, the mudslide at Johnson’s Landing that killed four people July 12 and the flooding in general — the RDCK is also in the process of hiring a new chief adminstrative officer to replace current CAO Jim Gustafson and changing their 25 year-old accounting system, said Kettle.
“The staff have been working two to three weeks straight and they’ve been stellar,” said Kettle. “This has been a real test of peoples’s commitment and mettle.”
Thankfully not all the money needed to clean up the mess in either Johnsons Landing or Salmo will come from the RDCK.
As long as the emergency order is in place, which has been extended, the province will pay the bill at Johnsons Landing.
As for the HB Mine site, the RDCK is currently exploring sharing the cost of the remediation with other partners like past owners, said Kettle.
The Salmo tailings pond has currently been stabilized and being assessed, said Kettle, adding the pond won’t be refilled until everything is either mended or replaced.
The dyke for the pond is 100 years old, said Kettle, and there is “bound to be problems” when a dyke that old experiences the kind of pressure this one did when it was flooded on July 3.
The high water levels experienced in the region compromised the dam and nearly spilled heavy metals into the nearby creek.
The damage is costing the RDCK an estimated $500,000 to repair.
The RDCK has brought in an x-ray machine to look for fisures or holes in the dyke.
“We never want to have the same thing happen — it was so close to a monumental disaster and that will never happen again,” said Kettle.
When asked about the controversy about the purchase price of the HB tailings pond, Kettle said right now the regional district has more pressing matters to address first.
The pond, which was bought in 1997 by the RDCK as an extension to the garbage dump, was reportedly purchased for $800,000. The owner purchased the same property only a few months earlier for $149,000.
“We’re taking care of the danger but we’re not focussed on revisiting ancient history,” said Kettle, who was elected in 2003 for the first of four terms he’s served with the RDCK and was not a director at the time the decision to purchase the land was made.
“It’s not fair to throw rocks at the windows of people who volunteered their time for the community. That being said, there should be accountability.”
Comments