An online petition urging a resolution to the leaks of water contaminated with e-coli and fecal coliform onto the grounds of Eagle Mountain middle school in Anmore has surpassed 1,100 signatures.
The leaks from a failing septic field that services the 53-home Anmore Green Estates (AGE) strata complex just above the school prompted a pollution abatement order from the provincial Ministry of Environment in Nov., 2017 that resulted in fencing being erected around part of the school’s property the following month to prevent students from accessing the area. And while the fencing was removed by the strata in May in an attempt to hasten ongoing negotiations with School District 43 for access to its property to allow construction of an underground pipe to connect the homes to the regional sewer system in Port Moody, parents of students at the school say the problem persists.
They said they want it fixed once and for all by Sept. 7, when kids are scheduled to return to classes.
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“We are concerned that the process will stall over the summer period and students will be faced with the same fecal waste-soaked grounds again in the fall,” said the petition, which was started two weeks ago by the Eagle Mountain’s parent advisory council and calls for the strata, school district, Anmore, Port Moody, the Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District and the Ministry of Environment to step up their efforts to solve the problem.
“The health hazard is undisputed, the problem is known and the solution is within reach.”
While progress has been made since the appointment of a facilitator by the province late last year, negotiations with the school district over an easement for about 792 sq. metres of its property where a sewer pipe would be buried were put on hold last March. SD43 is seeking $372,000, along with another $24,000 to compensate for its project management, administrative and legal costs. That is on top of the approximately $1 million cost Anmore Green Estate’s homeowners will have already absorbed to have the complex hooked up to the regional sewer system, just 67 metres away.
