Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Cheakamus River ‘not a completely dead system’

Provincial Emergency Program assessing damage, CN offers compensation after train derailment spills caustic chemical
deadfish

The cause of the train derailment that resulted in the spill of 41,000 litres of corrosive sodium hydroxide into the Cheakamus River is still unknown but the effects could be felt for decades.

"We don’t want to overestimate it, but let’s say a very significant percentage of the fish population, all ages, all species, was wiped out," said Brian Clark, the provincial incident commander and regional manager of environmental stewardship for the Ministry of the Environment, from an emergency response centre that was set up in the area of Friday’s spill.

"It could be 90 per cent (of fish), it could be 70 per cent. It’s definitely a significant portion.

"It’s going to take a long time to recover."

Early estimates on how long fish populations could take to recover vary from about 10 to 25 years, but a more detailed assessment could be made by next week.

According to Clark, the spill occurred just one week after local streamkeepers and Fisheries and Oceans Canada completed a comprehensive sampling of fish species along the river. Those streamkeepers returned to the same locations just days after the spill, and will use the same sampling methods to help determine what was lost.

"We have a really good idea of what was in the river a week before the event, and the next couple of days we’ll be sampling the same locations using the same techniques, and that’s going to give us a pretty accurate before and after picture," said Clark.

The derailment occurred at approximately 7:15 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 5 on a section of track in Cheakamus Canyon, north of Squamish. One of the nine overturned cars spilled most of its contents of sodium hydroxide into the river. The spill left countless numbers of dead fish strewn along the banks of the river, killing almost everything in its path before being diluted and transformed further downriver.

CN Rail and Transport Canada are still investigating the cause of the derailment of nine rail cars en route to Prince George, although a federal accident investigator has ruled out the possibility that there was something wrong with the tracks themselves. Squamish Valley residents suggested to the Globe and Mail that the length of the 144-car train might be responsible. B.C. Rail seldom ran trains longer than 90 cars on that section of track, they said. Representatives from railway workers’ unions have backed those claims and are asking the federal government for a full review.

CN Rail, which purchased B.C. Rail in 2004, has discounted that claim by suggesting operations were within industry standards.

According to Clark the cleanup has been successful, and the sodium hydroxide in the river has either been diluted or combined with other elements to form stable compounds through natural processes. By Sunday there was no longer any risk to the fish, to recreational users, or to residents along the river.

The next step is remediation, Clark says, which will involve several government agencies as well as volunteer streamkeepers. There are currently about 70 people working along the river, including volunteers and representatives from government agencies and CN.

A special task force was also created on Wednesday involving CN Rail, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Squamish First Nation.

"For the first couple of days our priority was to collect the dead fish, assessing that, and after that we’ve started to assess the live population," Clark said.

"In the next week or two we’ll sit down with Fisheries and Oceans, Squamish Nation, CN Rail and start coming up with a remediation plan on exactly how to go about a recovery.

"Some of the good news is that steelhead fry are still emerging that were in the gravel, and some insect species have good populations, so it’s not a completely dead system, there’s still life in there. If something was in the gravel it seems the spill went right over them.

"Some more good news is that some backwater areas didn’t get the full flow hit, some fish remain in those back eddies and isolated pools you get this time of year."

As a short-term measure Clark has requested that B.C. Hydro increase the flow of water into the Cheakamus to flush some of the remaining fish to safety.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is not involved at this stage but have been receiving regular reports. One report said that between 4,000 and 5,000 dead fish of all species and ages have been collected along the Cheakamus River.

"That being said it’s only probably a small percentage of the impacted fish because of the nature of water clarity and river flow, you really can’t make an accurate count or see or collect them all," said Corino Salomi, the head of land use for FOC, Lower Fraser Area.

"We’re providing some support services at (Tenderfoot Hatchery), and a lot of volunteer streamkeepers are helping with the cleanup and the counts, but we will be involved in the post-spill monitoring and recovering planning.

"We have to look at what options there might be, working with the resources we have, and hopefully with CN to do the best thing."

CN Rail has said it will offer compensation to those impacted by the spill, and has set up a claims information line at 780-472-3472. Individuals and businesses that were affected by the river closure are asked to call to make their claim, and will be invited to follow up with a more detailed explanation.

That could include local tour operators and anglers that use the river for rafting and fishing.

One of those operators is Elaho River Adventures, which is partnered with Canadian Outback Adventures.

According to Evan Phillips, director of operations for Canadian Outback Adventures, it will be difficult to assess the damage of the spill. They cancelled two trips on Friday and three trips on Saturday, turning away 60 guests. Some other guests took advantage of other tours offered by the company, including rafting trips on the Elaho and their Amazing Race tour of Whistler.

"There are really two aspects we’re looking at here," said Phillips. "One is the actual bookings we’ve lost, and there was definitely an impact on Friday and Saturday. The other is the more intangible numbers, the foot traffic that would normally walk in on a busy, beautiful weekend in August, looking to go out on the Cheakamus. Obviously it’s very difficult to measure the perception of the river now, post-incident now, and how that will affect our market.

"Are people not coming in based on the feeling that the health of the wilderness has been compromised, that the environment is not what it should be for that type of outdoor experience?"

Phillips says his company is in contact with several other rafting companies, who are generally in agreement that the spill will have an impact for years to come.

"It’s a good question, how do you go about PR when a chemical spill has contaminated a river?" he said. "We’re going to have to step up our efforts. It’s going to cost us money in the end in terms of marketing, in terms of trying to gain back the reputation of the river as a fantastic experience in the wilderness rather than a float down a chemical spill."

That said some customers still elected to raft the river on Sunday, even after they were told about the spill. Phillips believes it’s important to continue offering trips, even to get the message across about the kind of impact that spills can have on ecosystems.

Phillips would also like to see the emergency response and communications improved. His company didn’t hear about the spill until after 10 a.m. on Friday, when they were contacted by another rafting company. They called the RCMP who confirmed the spill, and the fact that recreational users were warned to stay away from the river.

"It was only after I made a few calls that I learned enough to make a business and safety decision for our customers. I’d like to see an improvement in communications for incidents like this," said Phillips. "I don’t want to point a finger at government, but rather I’d hope the onus is on CN as the operator of machinery that’s transporting large quantities of materials through communities like Squamish. They should have pre-plans in place with municipalities… if an incident like this occurs to initiate a chain of response."

The Provincial Emergency Program, Ministry of Transportation, Department of Fisheries and Oceans and other government agencies were alerted first, as were dozens of volunteer streamkeepers from the area. The first water alerts were issued by 10 a.m., the Coastal Health Authority issued a drinking water advisory for 2:45 p.m. and volunteers went door to door warning people by 4 p.m. that day.

Still, some residents along the river claim they did not find out about the spill until later that evening.

Jason Klimock of Whistler Flyfishing says the spill will have long-term impacts on their guiding business.

"We do a lot of trips there in the wintertime, that’s where we guide mainly for steelhead or dolly varden – or used to guide," he said. "It’s definitely a huge river for us, otherwise the Squamish gets a lot of pressure. This is another system we can guide on and I know a lot of other companies use it as well.

"The impact is fairly obvious. There are pictures of four generations of steelhead that have died, four different age classes. That’s clearly not a good thing, and a bunch of sculpins have died, and that’s a food source for the dolly varden."

The steelhead runs for this winter likely won’t be affected, but the death of juvenile steelhead in the river will result in much smaller runs in subsequent years. Other species will also be affected, but for steelhead the Cheakamus is recognized as one of the most important systems remaining in southern B.C.

"Down the road when the smoults and fry that were killed were supposed to head out to the ocean and come back, they’re not going to be there," said Klimock.

According to Graham Dallas, a spokesperson for CN, most of the nine cars have been removed from the bank. The insulated tanker carrying the heated sodium hydroxide is being left alone until the contents fully crystallize, and could be moved by Friday.

It’s too early to determine what the costs of the accident or cleanup might be, says Dallas, although he added that it was not CN’s policy to release those numbers.

"Our next step is to work with the task force there and talk about what kind of remediation is needed. We’ll be at the table for as long as it takes," he said.