DOWN THE DRAIN
Sewage Outflow
When it comes to sources of toxins pouring into the marine environment, outdated sewage treatment plants are a prime culprit. The Iona sewage plant in Richmond, which provides only basic treatment of wastewater, is the largest single source of toxins entering Georgia Strait. Sewage treatment for Victoria does not even meet these standards, which means that toxins, including PCBs and PBDEs, are dumped straight into Juan de Fuca Strait. According to the annual Sewage Report Card, produced by leading environmental organizations, BC lags far behind most of Canada in upgrading to more advanced sewage treatment — even though the waters off the West Coast are home to vulnerable populations of killer whales, salmon and other marine animals. The report called for a number of steps to improve sewage treatment for environmental protection, including:
- Federal government infrastructure funding and the adoption of national standards for sewage treatment that would require at least secondary treatment, the standard established in both Europe and the US.
- Municipal source control regulations that prevent toxic pollutants from entering sewer systems in the first place, such as those already in place in major cities like Toronto.
Once famous as an icon of the BC coast, Pacific Orcas are now infamous amongst scientists for their high degree of chemical contamination. Photo: Graham Ellis, Ursus Photography.
...ENDS UP HERE
Marine Pollution & BC’s Killer Whales
The killer whales in the international waters between British Columbia and Washington State are some of the most well known whales in the world — but they are also some of the most polluted marine mammals on the planet. The southern resident killer whales, 85 individuals that swim the waters between Georgia Straight and Puget Sound, are currently four to five times more contaminated than the highly toxic beluga whales of the St. Lawrence Seaway in Central Canada.
These killer whales are contaminated because they live in a toxic soup. Persistent pollutants like PCBs and DDT, long since banned in North America but still in the environment, have bioaccumulated in the whales’ blubber, leading to endocrine disruption, reproductive disorders and lowered immunity. This toxic legacy is compounded by a slew of dangerous chemicals still in use, which include dioxins and PBDEs. PBDEs, which are very similar in their chemical structure to PCBs, are perhaps one of the most poisonous and widely distributed chemicals in North America. Found in dozens of household products PBDEs are used as flame retardants in the manufacturing of electronics, foam cushions, computers and even toys. Like their toxic cousins, PBDEs are unsafe even at low doses, bioaccumulate in humans and the environment and are known to impair memory and learning and disrupt the endocrine system.(5)
When it comes to our health and well-being, at first glance it may appear that the connection between killer whales and humans is remote, but upon closer inspection the plight of these whales is telling us that we live in an interconnected world where chemicals that poison our water and pollute our air respect no boundaries. The southern resident killer whales are our canaries in the coal mine, telling us if we want good health we need a healthy planet with air and water free of toxic pollution.
