A Shawnigan Lake-style fight over drinking water could be brewing in the District of Highlands.
Those living in the small municipality of about 2,225 people are keeping a close eye on a plan to turn a local green space into a rock quarry.
Community members fear that blasting at the Millstream Road site could send contaminated waste into their drinking water, because it's located near the source of their drinking water – and next to a site that handles contaminated waste.
"They're proposing to blast immediately adjacent to the Tervita Landfill site, which stores hazardous and poisonous materials, immediately over our aquifer," said Scott Richardson, Highlands Community Association Chair. "Our aquifer is our life source in our community. This is not a good recipe."
OK Industries purchased the parcel of land in 2015 and applied to the District of Highlands to have the property rezoned as light industry.
The company's initial plan was to blast rock to create a level development, then use the debris to manufacture asphalt, but that proposal was denied.
Mining the land is a different story. The company doesn't need the district to get on board to go ahead with mining, it just needs provincial approval.
"My understanding is OK is doing that appropriate process," said B.C. Energy and Mines Minister Michelle Mungall. "The statutory decision-maker who works within the government is going to be making the decision based on the input they get from OK, but as well as from the community."
In a statement, the company said it is working with the province to address questions surrounding groundwater and blasting activities.
The decision is due in three to six months, but in the meantime, Green MLA Sonia Furstenau says government would be wise to listen to community concerns after she led a similar battle in Shawnigan Lake.
Furstenau made a political name for herself by fighting against a contaminated landfill near Shawnigan Lake over similar concerns that the site was leeching contaminants into drinking water. The province eventually revoked the site's permit.
"If the community doesn't feel like they're being listened to, and their concerns aren't being listened to, I would expect the community to get very upset with this," she said.
OK Industries argues that the development is surrounded by existing industrial uses, some of which already blast rock.
Still, the Highlands Community Association says the project simply doesn't belong here.
"It's not an industry that we want, and we feel like the district should be empowered to make those decisions," said Richardson.
