By Steve Hubrecht
Invermere’s odiferous sewage lagoons stink enough that they are now an official strategic priority for the district.
The reeking lagoons have been casting a stench over multiple parts of the District of Invermere for several weeks throughout the spring, stirring discontent among local residents. The move to make dealing with them a strategic priority came during last week’s Invermere council meeting.
“It (the stink from the lagoons) is creating concern. It is a legitimate concern. We don’t know what the problem is, and we don’t know what the solution is,” said Invermere Councillor Gerry Taft. “It is a new issue, but it is a kind of an emergency issue.”
Taft hastens to add that the issue is ‘new’ not because it has never occurred before (it has: the lagoons have given off a terrible smell in previous springs) but rather is new in the sense that dealing with the lagoons was not on council’s radar a few months ago, but is very much so now.
He noted that Invermere council sometimes has as many as five strategic priorities on its plate, while at the moment it only has three. (Those are: consultation on the proposed short term rental bylaw; creating a collaboration agreement with the Columbia Valley Housing Society; and a public communications functions method review). Taft suggested that adding the sewage lagoons as a fourth priority makes sense.
“People in town believe it’s not just the smell, but that there are capacity issues,” continued Taft, explaining that a resident had taken him to the slope overlooking the lagoons and pointed out that one pool is a different colour than the others.
Councillor Kayja Becker (who was acting as mayor at the Tuesday, May 23 meeting, in the absence of Invermere Mayor Al Miller) said that if the district can improve its communication about the lagoons — letting people know when something is malfunctioning, or if some parts of the sewage and wastewater system are at capacity — it may help ease concerns.
At the previous council meeting on Tuesday, May 9, a group of residents deeply upset about the ongoing stench had pressed council to deal with the problem. Most of the residents left that meeting with their concerns partly alleviated after Invermere director of public works and operations Angela MacLean made it apparent that the district was taking steps to address the issue.
The stink — and online grumbling about it — hasn’t entirely evaporated in the ensuing two weeks, but Becker and Taft said they had fielded a few new in-person complaints during that time.
“I do, however, think it is still top of mind for some people,” said Taft.
