A Port Coquitlam company that recycles industrial waste has been fined more than $450,000 for contamination of the Pitt River.

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Ground X Site Services Ltd., which provides dump truck, disposal and recycling services, intermittently discharged waste effluent into the environment nine times between March and April 2024, according to B.C.’s Environment Ministry.

The company collects, handles and stores waste soil, solids and liquids, including hydrovac slurry waste, concrete, asphalt and organic material, according to the ministry. Hydrovac is a process that uses pressurized water and an industrial strength vacuum to excavate and evacuate waste material.

As the pressurized water breaks up the waste material it creates a slurry that is removed by a powerful vacuum into a debris tank. The slurry from the process is put in an unlined pond so the water may be reused once the solids settle, according to the ministry.

During an inspection, ministry officers found the waste pond was at capacity and had visibly eroded.

Ground X disputes that it handles waste but the ministry states that hydrovac material would only be non-waste material if it was transported in its original form.

In this case, Ground X combined non-waste soil with water, thereby creating a new substance containing liquid fractions that meet the definition of effluent and samples from the hydrovac pond exceeded contamination and freshwater aquatic life standards, the ministry said in its decision.

“These exceedances demonstrate that the material is capable of injuring life forms or damaging the environment,” the ministry said.

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The ministry notes that the Pitt River is a major tributary of the Fraser River, and both are home to a rich diversity of wildlife and fish species, including culturally important Pacific salmon species, which have undergone substantial decline over the past 125 years.

Samples collected from the pond included high levels of benzo(a)pyrene and pyrene, which can cause harm to aquatic plants, algae, invertebrates and fish, the ministry said.

In considering the fines, the ministry said Ground X has derived economic benefit by avoiding properly designing the hydrovac pond, including a pond liner that would prevent effluent from discharging to the ground.

Ground X has been in operation since 2010 and has been registered in B.C. since 2016.

It also received a pollution abatement order in February 2024 after it was found to be contaminating the river in 2023. At that time, officials found contaminants exceeding guidelines included aluminum, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, zinc, mercury, nickel, silver, vanadium, zinc, anthracene, benz(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, fluoranthene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and chloroform.

Samples taken from the area closest to the Pitt River showed aluminum levels 1,953 times higher than guidelines, copper levels were 94 times higher and benzo(a)pyrene levels were 124 times higher.

With files from Derrick Penner

ticrawford@postmedia.com