A public health inspector has shut down the Madeira Park public washrooms building after a water sample from a ditch between the elementary school and community hall tested positive for E. coli.
Madeira Park Elementary School then fenced off and limed part of its playing field - which gets rain-water runoff from the washrooms' adjacent drain field - to kill the E. coli bacteria.
Tim Adams, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) drinking water officer, ordered the Pender Harbour Community Club to shut down its public washrooms building beside the community hall near the school June 1. The water sample showed 3,600 E. coli bacteria per 100 millilitres. Adams said typically if over 400 coliform bacteria are found in recreational water, then inspectors should be monitoring more closely, re-sampling and possibly closing the facility."As a result of my inspection, I have reasonable and probable grounds to believe and I do believe that the sewage system serving the property is creating a health hazard by discharging domestic sewage or effluent onto the ground," Adams wrote in the hand-delivered order to community club president Ted Lee.
In accordance with the Health Act, he ordered the community club to close the washrooms to reduce sewage flow into the system. The washrooms will remain closed until the club repairs the sewage system, which it must do by Aug. 1. If not, VCH will take further action.
"They needed a bit of a push just to get going because they were in a bit of denial that the system was actually having a problem," Adams said in an interview. Since the action taken from the order, there is no longer any effluent getting into the ground, he said. The community hall next door remains open for functions such as bingo and the Madeira market.
Adams advised the school to rope off and put signs up on the portion of the field next to the club's septic field to keep students out, and to lime the grass to kill the bacteria, principal Ray Clayton said.
"We're just following Mr. Adams' recommendations to make sure that our school field is safe," Clayton said. The school notified students, parents, Pender Harbour Secondary School, the Pender Harbour Health Centre and VCH environmental health officer Paul Martiquet.
"It was dealt with very quickly," Clayton said. On Monday, he anticipated the field would re-open shortly, in time for its June 16 sports day.
The community club, which operates the washrooms facility and the Pender Harbour Community Hall, received a warning from VCH in January to fix the problem, according to Lee, and both parties have continued to meet since then. But the repairs have been delayed trying to find an engineer and raising the estimated $50,000 to $70,000 needed for the repairs, he added. The system is roughly 28 years old, he said.
An engineer came to the site this week. Once an engineering plan is in place, the non-profit club will decide how to proceed and how to come up with the funds. Lee said they have contacted federal, provincial and local government representatives and so far have not found any potential grant money.
"Hopefully it will bring Pender Harbour together as a community to do something about this," Lee said. The club hosted a public meeting Monday night at the hall to provide information on the E. coli detection, where Lee said about a dozen people attended. Lee can be reached at 604-883-2151 for more information or to give donations.
