People in Turtle Valley are physically blocking road access today for trucks doing prep work to eventually move in biosolids from Kamloops.

Resident Connie Seaward says there are a number of concerns with having sewage material brought to farm land in their community.

“The City of Kamloops and Arrow, well now they have this contract and need to put (biosolids) somewhere, and I guess the (Turtle Valley Bison Ranch) stepped up and said that they would take it. We haven’t had the water tests back, we haven’t had the soil tests back. It’s too quick, and too many unknowns for our community to support it at this point,” Seaward says.

“About 90 per cent of the properties here are on an aquifer. This aquifer feeds into Chum Lake and into Chum Creek. Wells and irrigation and domestic water come out of there. We feel as a community this was overlooked, and when these things are amended, then it would be illegal for them to be dumping it here. And it shouldn’t be coming up to any agricultural land.”

Seaward says if proper testing was done, those biosolids likely wouldn’t be allowed to be deposited where they are. She says they would be better off at reclaimed gravel pits or mine sites.

She says she has a meeting planned with the mayor of Kamloops to try and find some common ground.

Meanwhile, Arrow Transportation says it is hopeful to continue doing prep work in Turtle Valley this week.

Regional manager Jeff Mayer says police were notified about the road block formed by residents who oppose having biosolids being moved in.

“Like any project, you’re always bound to get a diversity of opinions, and this project is no different. We respect everyone’s opinion on this project, but at the end of the day we have a job to do. We’re going to look at all means at our disposal to make sure we fulfill our contractual obligations with the City of Kamloops.”

Mayer says Arrow turns down 99 per cent of biosolids projects because they aren’t safe to perform. But he says the company feels very strongly it can do the biosolids project responsibly in Turtle Valley, and says it will have tremendous to the land, saying the part of that land is devoid of nutrient value and has previously been logged.

“We absolutely vetted this project thoroughly, and we made sure before we even undertook the project or set foot in the area that we were positive we could undertake it responsibly. And ensure we would have a strong project that would yield some benefits to the landowner at the end of the day.”

Arrow has a two-year contract with the city – with two one-year options – to move 35,000 tonnes of biosolids out of the Kamloops sewage treatment plan. Mayer says 23,000 tonnes will be moved to Turtle Valley as he says that will be the limit that site can handle.

He adds multiple rounds environmental testing will happen before any biosolids are put down in the coming months.