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Victoria faces major bill to clean up contaminated park

Former Songhees burial ground at Laurel Point became an industrial area
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A walk along the David Foster Harbour Pathway in Laurel Point Park is a popular tourist attraction. While the sights are breathtaking, the soil and groundwater in the area is contaminated with high levels of metal and petroleum hydrocarbons. Lauren Boothby/VICTORIA NEWS

Note: This story contains corrected information from the original version.

Laurel Point Park is contaminated and the City of Victoria is looking at a potential $5-million bill to clean it up.

The City will spend up to $350,000 to confirm the degree of contamination and create a remediation plan.

The park, located along the David Foster Harbour Pathway next to property owned by Transport Canada, is contaminated with high levels of metal and petroleum hydrocarbons in the soil and groundwater, according to a staff report presented to council last week. Chemical discharges from nearby property likely contaminated the aquatic environment, water and the soil because of areaB次元官网网址檚 industrial past, the report stated.

For now, there is little risk to the public. Coun. Chris Coleman said the contamination is capped and secured, as long as it is left alone.

B次元官网网址淚f there was (a risk to the public), then we would close the park,B次元官网网址 he said.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 the sort of thing that weB次元官网网址檝e seen in the past, when there was leeching from the Hartland Road landfill,B次元官网网址 Coleman added. B次元官网网址淚t went into the groundwater B次元官网网址 it then caused an algal bloom in the Butchart Gardens. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what youB次元官网网址檙e trying to control for here.B次元官网网址

The park, and the surrounding lands on the Laurel Point peninsula, were burial grounds for the Songhees people prior to 1885, after which it was used by various industrial facilities, including paint factories, machine shops,and for processing coal and oil.

Victoria council approved the next stage of SLR ConsultingB次元官网网址檚 environmental investigation using money from the environmental remediation funds in cityB次元官网网址檚 financial plan for 2017.

The next step in the process is a risk assessment, with an estimated cost of up to $150,000. It will take an additional $50,000 for the remediation plan, and up to $5 million to put the plan into action.

The surrounding land owned by Transport Canada will also have to be excavated and disposed off-site, according to preliminary reports.

lauren.boothby@vicnews.com





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