Sanitary sewage appears to have overflown into Stoney Creek again

As heavy rains poured on the region this weekend, a Burnaby resident says he has seen what appears to be sewage flowing into Stoney Creek yet again.

The issue was first reported by Tri-City News in February 2020, but the issue has been ongoing for nearly 10 years. And since 2020, the overflowing of sewage into Stoney Creek has remained an issue, pursued by local father-son duo George and Luka Kovacic.

The issue comes up with heavy rains, which overwhelm the sanitary sewer system. A video sent to Burnaby Beacon shows a North Road manhole overflowing on Sunday afternoon, with the water flowing into the stormwater drain.

The stormwater sewage system, in the North Road area, drains through a culvert and into Stoney Creek.

“I can confirm that it smells like sewage,” Kovacic said in an email, adding that vacuum trucks arrived to mitigate the issue.

“I also do not know if E. coli testing is being done when there is a sewage incident as well as on a regular basis.”

Freedom of information requests filed by Kovacic appear to show significant spikes in E. coli contamination of the stream in the same time periods of past sanitary sewer overflows.

This comes at the height of salmon spawning season, which runs from October through December.

In late October, the salmon return appeared to be in trouble, with low numbers seen making their way upstream that month. However, the first weekend of November saw larger numbers return, according to streamkeeper John Templeton.

On top of troubles with salmon returning, the invertebrates they feed on were effectively wiped out of the stream this summer after a murky substance contaminated the stream. And the local ecosystem may take over a year to recuperate.

Over the last couple of years, George Kovacic has run a campaign of filing freedom of information requests with various governments on the issue. And the family has been pressing local politicians from the cities of Burnaby and Coquitlam, Metro Vancouver, and the BC and federal governments.

A major part of the issue has been the overlapping jurisdictions—the federal government is responsible for fisheries and riparian areas, Metro Vancouver manages the regional sewer system, and the Coquitlam sewer system appears to be where the backup occurs. Where it flows into Stoney Creek, however, is in Burnaby.

Kovacic said he wants to see documentation of the protocols that kick into gear when incidents like these occur.

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