The Saanich couple who discovered a historic oil spill on their Goward Road property in 2016 have since run out of money to deal with it and are awaiting the 2019 court date for the lawsuit theyB次元官网网址檝e filed against the former owners.
The hope for Cathy and Peter Blazkow is they will win back much of the money theyB次元官网网址檝e spent, so they can continue remediating the soil. Until then the Blazkows are already $300,000 deep into remediation costs to deal with about 800 tonnes of contaminated soil which they uncovered on the property. When all is said and done it is estimated to cost them an additional $400,000 for a total of at least $700,000, not including lawyer fess or an estimated $25,000 to pay for the final inspection, Cathy said. And now theyB次元官网网址檙e out of money, the soil remains, and the garage they were trying to build when they discovered the oil is nothing but a foundation.
B次元官网网址淲e spent all of our money, we had to sell our family house in Gordon Head [which we were renting out]. I also had an inheritance from my aunt but that money is now gone,B次元官网网址� Cathy said.
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What they thought was going to be their pristine retirement property in the rich forests of the Prospect Lake area has been nothing of the sort.
The couple bought the five-acre property with a house, barn, garage, workshop, horse paddock and riding ring at 240 Goward Rd. in 2012. Their daughterB次元官网网址檚 family, with the BlazkowsB次元官网网址� granddaughter, moved into the home too. The plan was to replace the workshop with a two-storey garage that had an upstairs office. That was 2015. Even after the workshop was initially razed there was no sign of contamination.
It wasnB次元官网网址檛 until the builders dug down to install the foundation for the new garage that they discovered the contaminated soil. An environmental company was brought in and confirmed the presence of oil, including diesel and industrial strength cleaning agents. The excavated soil is too contaminated to ship anywhere, so it sits in three large mounds on top of tarps.
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B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 lucky we found it,B次元官网网址� Peter said. B次元官网网址淲here it was, it was sitting in a bowl of bedrock but over time the contaminants would start leeching into the water table.B次元官网网址�
The Blazkows are also lucky their own well water was uphill from the contamination. After paying nearly $200,000 for the initial excavation the couple found a company that specializes in remediating oil contamination on site, meaning the soil can stay put. That process is underway and they still owe the remediation company $20,000 for starting the enzymes that metabolize the hydrocarbons.
B次元官网网址淭hey got us started on the enzyme process, it actually breaks down the contaminants,B次元官网网址� Cathy said.
The couple took on the process themselves, buying huge drums, pumps and drip lines, as well as a $2,000 shovel for the front of their daughterB次元官网网址檚 Bobcat to level out the mounds of dirt, which now have drip lines laid across them in formation.
Each day Peter would fill a pair of industrial-sized drums with a mix of the enzymes and nitrates. It would take a few hours for the solution to mix and populate and then heB次元官网网址檇 turn on the pump and let it drip onto the mound of dirt. But a bucket of enzymes only lasts so long, and at $2,000 per bucket, theyB次元官网网址檝e stopped buying them. However, the plan is to start again once they can afford it.
Soon after discovering the oil Cathy learned her neighbours had made complaints about an industrial use of the property, including trucks with oil tanks coming and going. Saanich GIS photos also showed evidence of the tanks on the property.
A Dec. 20, 2016 lawsuit names defendants Helen West, Rick Hughes and Victoria Tank Service Ltd.
- This story has been amended to adjust the total estimated cost of remediation to at least $700,000.
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