More than half a century ago, I was a Junior Forest Warden.
First lesson of the bivouac: “Don’t dig latrines uphill or upstream from camp!”
Why does unassailable common sense for 12-year-olds elude our provincial politicians, who approve storing up to five million tonnes of contaminated soil both uphill and upstream from drinking water sources that supply close to half a million people?
The storage site in question is in Shawnigan Lake’s catchment, at an elevation of 340 metres, about 150 metres higher than surrounding lowlands.
Shawnigan Lake, 50 kilometres from Victoria, has 7,500 residents. Summer numbers swell to about 12,000.