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FTEN the term is used: “We are
living in an affluent society.” But
due to the magnitude of pollution

we are rapidly becoming the effluent
Society.

The pollution of air and water has
become the shame of North America.
President Johnson said recently that
Every river system in the United States
'S polluted. This should be a warning
to Canadians of what is to come un-

less effective precautions are taken
now.

In the Rocky Mountain trench, Kim-

erley is the home of Cominco’s fer-
tilizer plant and its Sullivan mine, the
argest lead and zinc producer in the
ommonwealth. It is also the home of
ardent sportsmen, who enjoy game
hunting and fishing.

The country around Kimberley is
Now known as “the land of the purple
Waters.” Three streams now run purple
black with foul smelling pollution from

the fertilizer plant. Fish have been

Killed or driven out and the streams

Pollution by Columbia Cellulose Company at Port Edward, B.C..

the effluent society —

Communities impose strict regulations to ensure
safe food, but have virtually no controls over air
pollution. Man can exist five days without food,
but he cannot live for five minutes without air.

By EUNICE PARKER

have been turned into open sewers for
Cominco’s wastes.

Mark Creek runs through the centre
of the town and until a few years ago,
was a sparkling stream full of trout.
Now, the system is a catch-all for the
iron laden wastes from the mine and
the banks are piled with a sticky black
residue.

The water stinks, especially when
some accident at the plant dumps
phosphoric acid into the creek. (On
one occasion an estimated 30,000 gal-.
lons of acid poured into the creek in
three hours).

Cominco has admitted the situation
can be corrected; the only obstacle is
the cost. It has completed preliminary
engineering on a plan to dam a mile

i

long gully in which to impound the
effluent. This would filter out most of
the wastes. :

The company has stated the plan
would cost $750,000. In 1964, the com-
pany’s net profit was $39 million, or
$750,000 every week. So, the plan
would cost Cominco just: one week’s
profit.

All these streams eventually empty
into Kootenay Lake. The wastes from
the fertilizer plant may be producing

-some short term benefits to the lake.

It has been found that the Kokanee
fish which used to run to an average
of half a pound in weight, suddenly
began to get bigger. Today, three
pounders are common and seven
pounders. are not unknown.

One theory for this is that it’s due

‘to the fresh water shrimp planted in

the lake in 1949-50 as food for the
trout. Another theory is that the
wastes have fertilized the phyloplank-
ton, which the fish feed on.

But along with the growth of plank-
ton has been a disturbing increase in
the growth of algae and this too is
thought to be due to the fertilizer
waste.

Algae are microscopic in size, they
join together in long chains and net-
works and eventually in masses. Such
huge colonies of algae can use up most
of the oxygen, thus suffocating fish.
And when the algae die and decom-
pose, they use up even more oxygen
and release noxious gases which can
make a lake uninhabitable to fish for
a long time.

Lake Erie, which is fed by industria}
wastes and sewerage, has over 800
square miles covered with algae to a
depth of two feet. It looks like a giant

PLEASE TURN PAGE

July 15, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3

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