Lavington contaminated waters

[Mama]

While spreading manure is necessary, planning is important. Spreading it on ice is stupid. First of all, it does no good because it just runs off the field. Secondly...it runs off the field!! Does anyone know if this is a hay field or a corn field?

[intheknow]

well commen sence would tell me and most people that you dont spread manure on land that has its water shed running into a main water well area.To me its as much the water authoritys fault as it is the Farmers fault.U have to be aware of your surrounding and possible consequences of your actions like it or not.

fritsthedog I think U missed my point completely.I never disputed the "when the maure was put there" also The land has not been owned for "years".I believe its around 7 years or so
My point was and is that maybe ALL partys involved should start paying attention to the consequences of these sort of actions.For Christs sake man Kineshanko logging got fined 20K 15 years ago for simply driving a cat through a creekbed that really affected NOTHING and was way way up in the bush so yes farmers in town in direct contact with my drinking water should not be dumping cow chit on any field untill one knows what the future will bring

Why are you name calling? Did I call you any names? Are you a child? Is that why you resort to name calling?

fritsthedog?Is that the best you can do??Why not just give a response to questioned asked?
Because u cant can you.

[okanaganchoppers]

First off, let it go.
Secondly, he's been doing this way for YEARS. Do you hear me? YEARS with no consequences. Manure is spread in the fall. So, if you can see into the future, maybe YOU should be consulting the farmer next fall.

Common sense would be you packing your bags and going back to what ever city you came from.

What an idiotic statement. Drinking and driving has been going on for years. So has people smoking, war, etc. I think you get my point. Also, why do you insist on telling people who complain about E-Coli in thier water to move if they do not like it?

Fritzthecat = The farmer in question? Either way just as ignorant.

[intheknow]

Fritzthecat = The farmer in question? Either way just as ignorant

could not have said it better myself

[Fritzthecat]

Fritzthecat = The farmer in question? Either way just as ignorant

could not have said it better myself

Um, who are the ones panicking, whining and complaining?

Geez, I dunno.

[intheknow]

fritsthedog,s favourite quote:
If common sense was common it wouldn't need a special name.

too bad fritsthedog does not follow his own philosophy

[Glacier]

Enough of the name calling.

The fact is fecal excrement happens - even when the appropriate precautions are taken. It is not fair to blame the farmer when he was following acceptable management practices. These are 2010 standards, not 1910 standards as some posters implied.

If you look at a little to the East of Lavington, most of Whitevale and the Lumby downtown are in the 100 year flood plains, so once every 100 years these homes and businesses will have flooded. I would guess this freak manure contamination was a once in 100 year event, so it probably won't happen again in our lifetimes.

[Fritzthecat]

fritsthedog,s favourite quote:
If common sense was common it wouldn't need a special name.

too bad fritsthedog does not follow his own philosophy

Name calling...nice. How old are you?

[intheknow]

Enough of the name calling.

The fact is fecal excrement happens - even when the appropriate precautions are taken. It is not fair to blame the farmer when he was following acceptable management practices. These are 2010 standards, not 1910 standards as some posters implied.

If you look at a little to the East of Lavington, most of Whitevale and the Lumby downtown are in the 100 year flood plains, so once every 100 years these homes and businesses will have flooded. I would guess this freak manure contamination was a once in 100 year event, so it probably won't happen again in our lifetimes.

your dead wrong and we are not comparing apples to apples in this case.

[Glacier]

Charges laid over water contamination

An agency warns legal action over contamination of a well could place upgrades to Greater Vernon’s water utility in jeopardy.

The Regional District of North Okanagan and the District of Coldstream face four charges each in relation to a foreign substance entering the Antwerp Springs water source in January 2010.
“What public benefit is the Ministry of Environment hoping to achieve by charging us? A lot of money will be spent (on legal fees),” said Trafford Hall, RDNO administrator.

Hall says RDNO is under pressure from government to initiate costly improvements to Greater Vernon’s water system and it has limited resources.

“This (court case) will burn up a lot of money that would have been devoted to the system,” he said of separating agricultural users and filtration.

The charges facing RDNO and Coldstream include operating a well in a manner to cause adverse impact, introducing a foreign matter into a well, allowing contamination of drinking water and failure to provide potable water.

Thousands of Coldstream residents were forced to abandon their drinking source because of the contamination, which occurred after a rain storm.

“RDNO responded instantly to this crisis and all remediation was initiated,” said Hall.

“Why there are Crown charges, we’re not sure. This isn’t a case where anyone had intent to do anything.”

A similar reaction is coming from the District of Coldstream.

“Our staff has always acted with complete fidelity to the customer,” said Michael Stamhuis, chief administrative officer.
“Nothing has been covered up. We’re disappointed charges have been laid. We’re not sure one government charging another government is benefitting the public.”
Both RDNO and Coldstream are waiting to see more detailed information about the charges and how the legal process unfolds.

“It will take a lot of staff time and legal costs,” said Stamhuis.

Ministry of Environment officials state they are unable to respond because the matter is before the courts.

Three charges are also facing Pan-O-Ramic Farms and owner Ernest Rodney Palfrey. They include allowing contamination of drinking water, introducing activity-related waste into the environment and introducing waste into the environment causing pollution.

Palfrey could not be reached for comment.

RDNO, Coldstream, Palfrey and Pan-O-Ramic Farms are scheduled to reappear in court Oct. 27.

[JeffTT]

The question I have – and perhaps someone here knows the answer: The farmer, Rod Palfrey, the town of Coldstream and the RDNO were all charged for this incident. Why was the BC Farm Industry Review Board not charged?

This farmer was taken before the BCFIRB by owners of neighboring properties just the year prior, in February 2009.
http://www.firb.gov.bc.ca/complaints/fa ... _final.pdf

Reading this case, I have observed a few interesting points:
1) P.6 pt 29 “The neighbor also indicated they had smelled manure on two other occasions, December 26, 2007, when they observed it spread on the snow along the west end of the 10 acre field and once between October 2008 and January 2009 while walking on the paved walkway”. (This testimony appears to have been ignored by the board in rendering their judgement.)
2) P.7 - 8 pt 38 “Mr Palfrey said that manure might be spread anytime from Monday through Saturday, but was never spread on Sunday and that manure was not spread in winter when the land was snow covered and had never been spread on Boxing Day.” (This testimony appears to have been taken at face value by the board.)
3) P. 8 pt 42 “Mr Bifano’s manure storage is a mix of liquid, solid and semi-solid, with 4 months liquid storage capacity and 4 days solid storage capacity. Solid waste is disposed of year round on the fields.” (Mr Bifano was a dairy farmer from Armstrong, whose testimony was key in establishing for the board that Mr Palfrey’s operation fell within the realm of ‘normal farm practice’.)
4) P.5 pt 19 The KP report from a Sept 2008 site visit states “Depending on precipitation and wash water usage, he estimated storage capacity of 3 to 4 months.” (Given storage capacities of 4 days for Mr Bifano and 3 -4 months for Mr Palfrey, I think it is an obvious conclusion that they would be spreading manure in the winter time, while the ground is frozen.)

From the Environmental Management Act - Agriculture Waste Control Regulation, Section 14. (It's the law, not a guideline.) The act was last amended December 9, 2008 and is still in effect. Agricultural waste is defined. And it must NOT be applied "on frozen land".

From the above, it seems pretty clear that if BCFIRB had not ignored testimony put before them, and had simply upheld the law (Were they even aware that this is law?) that this incident would have been entirely preventable. Instead, they relied on Mr Bifano’s testimony, and found that the respondent’s practices fell within normal farm practice and subsequently dismissed the complaint. From my reading of the Environmental Management Act - Agriculture Waste Control Regulation, Mr Bifano was (and is, if continuing the same practices) is in breach of the Act. How can a practice that is clearly against the law be ruled as “normal farm practice” by BCFIRB?

[solidfiction]

water under the bridge now.Farm is bankrupt and shut down for well over a year.propertys sold or being sold.
he up north working somewhere

[ole smelly]

First I heard of this disgusting mess. I was away then this happened and I guess got swept under the table what about the mayor and Councillors?? Somebody has to be accountable, did anyone get sick what about the long term health effects??
As for the farm going bankrupt another example of everything in Vernon going *bleep* up. Makes you wonder why people cant find a job after 7 years out of work??

[GordonH]

Update

http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/992 ... l-4-counts

[gardengirl]

Hmmm. Interesting. I haven't been following the story since it first broke.
At that time, I didn't know who owned the farm.
The Palfrey family has been in the Vernon area forever. I remember Rod's mom as a figure skating judge; she was tough, avery no-nonsense lady. (Rod was a pretty fine skater as I remember.)

It sounds like the family has had a lot of trouble in the last few years. It was Rod's son Brock who was involved in a major drug bust involving the Greeks a couple of years ago.