2018-04-10 re Cholera and Norovirus in Georgia Strait, BC. Local resident writes . . .

Please scroll down to heading  With thanks to Dianne (the local resident).

NOTE:

• the Comment from Thomas Gates (bottom of posting) from local group SOS Bowser  http://sosbowser.ca.
• Both the cholera and norovirus outbreaks are plausibly related to sewage  (#1 and #2 quotes, just below).
• Not mentioned:   marine vessels as a source of human sewage.

 

1.   Re late March, 2018, cases of cholera on the east coast of Vancouver Island, BC,

From Dept of Fisheries and Oceans Report, March 23, 2018:

marine water sampling results from March 6, 2018 (show) elevated fecal coliform levels in this area.

2.   Re April 9th, 2018, closure of 2 oyster farms after norovirus outbreak, 40 cases (URL below),

. . .  human sewage in the marine environment is currently believed to be the most plausible cause of shellfish contamination, according to BCCDC epidemiologist Marsha Taylor.

(BCCDC is the BC Centre for Disease Control.)

UPDATE:  126 cases of norovirus.   I add updates (source) to:

as presented verbally to Town Council, Cholera cases, originating French Creek and Qualicum Bay. And April 9th report of norovirus. Human sewage a plausible factor in both.

My personal experience a couple of years ago, swimming parallel to the shoreline, approaching the French Creek area, sent me in hasty and frightened retreat to a hot bath with disinfectant.  Sewage contamination, long term, was evident in the water.

Please see Dianne’s input below, which includes:

No doubt the French Creek outflow has a lot to do with it but the government will blame private septic tanks.  This is simply not true with few exceptions.  There are sufficient regulations that government could use if this was really the problem.

RELATED TO:

• 2018-04-09    2 B.C. oyster farms closed after norovirus outbreak, CBC

• 2018-03-26    Water: re Cholera cases from herring eggs, Qualicum Beach area. Letter to officials, Reply from Medical Health Officer.

• 2018-03-25     Vancouver Island cholera outbreak ‘a unique situation,’ health officials say, Vancouver Sun

• 2017-09-12      The proposed Bowser Sewage Treatment Plant, submission to the BC Government

 

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With thanks to Dianne from BC:

. . .   There appears to be no science regarding this outbreak nor is there a significant effort in why this outbreak happened.  No doubt the French Creek outflow has a lot to do with it but the government will blame private septic tanks.  This is simply not true with few exceptions.  There are sufficient regulations that government could use if this was really the problem.

 

We have been sailors in this area for more than two decades.  What I find appalling is how opaque the water has become with vegetative growth by June/July along our coastal area from Deep Bay to well below French Creek.  There is also surface growth of a slimy algae found nowhere else to the extent seen  in our area to well south of French Creek.  We have sailed throughout the inland waters from Port McNeil to Victoria.  Our local waters only ossolate waters from the tides with very little thru-put toward Victoria.   The poop waste is building up and the backwaters along shallow shelves flow north, not south.  Consequently all of our beaches are polluted both north and south of the French Creek pipe.  This must be stopped.  I was amazed at the contamination in relatively cold waters this early in the season. It will only get worse as the weather warms.

We cannot be apathetic.