39. Burnaby to Victoria

When we entered False Creek under the Granville Street Bridge, we noticed a large new painting called The Birds of False Creek. It showed the birds that I saw during the 26 years that I paddled three or four times a week from my home in Kitsilano to our shop on Granville Island. Most the birds that I would encounter, including geese, grebes, duffel heads, golden eyes, cormorants, crows, mew gulls, glaucous gulls, and eagles were there. They were well painted on a modern pink background. Some things get better.
And some things don’t. We rounded the small marina into Alder Bay, where I used to pull out. The marina there has boats worth hundreds of thousands (or millions?) tied up to cheap wharfs floated on Styrofoam blocks. Over time the Styrofoam has deteriorated, and pieces regularly break off and float away. (Newer wharfs usually have concrete or solid plastic floats). I wonder if there are regulations about that.
Evan and I made our way to our old shop building and looked inside. It’s been over two years now and the place is still empty. The wheels of the Federal Government turn slowly.

 

In 2001 a group called “Friends of False Creek” began a program of testing the water quality in False Creek. They needed a couple of kayakers to take water samples throughout the creek. My colleague, Kevin, and I volunteered. This was easy for me because I was paddling to work anyway, but Kevin had to arrive at the shop early and get into his kayak there. Every Wednesday morning, before work, for a year and a half we took water samples in sterilized plastic bottles at several designated positions in False Creek. At each site we took one sample for testing for fecal coliform and another for enterococci. After collecting the samples, we went ashore with all of our bottles and put them in a cooler which was picked up by a team member and taken to two testing facilities. The program was supported initially by the GVRD (Greater Vancouver Regional District), and by scientists from the provincial and federal governments. It was already known that there were pollution problems in False Creek, but we wanted to more accurately learn about the scale of the problem and identify sources and the effects of weather, if any. At the time there were dozens of small boats moored in the creek, some with people living full time on them. We thought that this could be a source of pollutants. Bigger concerns were the three CSOs (combined sewer overflows) that drain into the creek. The system is designed to send sewage directly to a treatment plant. However, during rain events this can be overwhelmed and the excess spills into the CSOs and flows, thanks to gravity, into the creek. With increasing population densities comes increasing sewage and increasing stress on the CSOs. The GVRD already knew about this and had a 50-year plan to increase the capacity of the sewage system. This seemed a little far off to me. Although the GVRD seemed like a reluctant ally, the provincial and federal scientists were great. The federal guy, whose specialty was shellfish, told us that one day he hoped to eat oysters from False Creek. However, he wondered if the report would ever see the light of day.
Recommended limits for body-contact for enterococci are 35 colonies/100 mL sample. Limits for body-contact recreation for fecal coliform are fewer than 200 /100 mL and for fishing and boating: fewer than 1000 /100 mL. Kayaking would seem to have more exposure than ordinary “fishing and boating”. Safe limits tend to be seen as 200 colonies/100mL. During the months that we were collecting samples we heard about “very high readings” and “readings off the chart” of both pathogens. It was found that the highest readings occurred after a dry period that was followed by substantial rain, which flushed the CSOs out. The presence of the small boats was found to not be a significant factor. Highest readings were near the outflows. One email indicated fecal coliform results ranging from 45,000 to low 1000’s. At that time there was massive development of apartment towers and townhouses, especially on the north side of the creek. Land prices sky-rocketed (which contributed to our shutting down boat manufacturing.) Both the city and the developers made a lot of money. After we finished the program, we waited for the study to be completed and publicized. We never did see any results. There must be a report somewhere about pollution in False Creek sitting on some dusty digital shelf. Meanwhile there is a large population living in luxury apartments on some of the most valuable land in North America surrounding the “urban jewel” that is False Creek that sometimes more resembles a cesspool. If you want to see the “natural jewel” of Greater Vancouver you need to look just a bit further south.

 

We used to sell our kayaks to a chain of large outdoor stores headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Many people don’t realize that Hamburg has more kilometers of canals than Venice. The Alster River is especially interesting because on its journey through two small lakes to the Elbe River it flows through some beautiful old estates that are only visible from the water. Like Vancouver, Hamburg has a history of overflowing CSOs that polluted the water to the extent that people were warned off the Alster, and massive fish die-offs occurred. Unlike Vancouver, Hamburg decided to do something about it. A few years ago, I was paddling there with a German acquaintance when we came to what seemed to me to be a large handsome dock. “What’s this for?” I asked. It was explained to me that it was one of several huge underground storage basins for holding water and sewage after a rain event when the CSOs could not handle the excess. Once the rain passes the sewage can be pumped back to the treatment plant. Today you can swim in the Alster and be confident that the authorities monitor the situation closely. The Alster and its two inner-city lakes are now known as “the internationally admired wet bits that make Hamburg what it is!” (How Hamburg became European Green Capital…) Could this system work in False Creek? I’m no hydrology engineer, but intuitively, you would think so. Vancouver gets more rain (1167 mm/yr. average vs. 768 mm for Hamburg), but False Creek is much smaller. There are only three CSOs. There are federal guidelines on pollution limits for marine waters and there is no way that False Creek meets those. All the various governments concerned have been turning a blind eye to the problem for decades. You would think that there would be funding available from the federal government and also from the developers that have made their millions from building the place out. It may just be a matter of not caring enough. One thing that our little study may have influenced: some time after the project was wound down signs went up at various parts of the creek warning about pollution levels after rain events. (Note: on July 27/19 during a weekend for fireworks, nearby Kitsilano Beach was closed for swimming. One sample for E. coli came in at 12,997 per 100 ml. Safe is 200.)

 

On our way out of False Creek we passed Fisherman’s Wharf. It was here in 2012 that members of the Squamish Streamkeepers Society began wrapping protective plastic around creosote-treated pilings. Herring like to lay their eggs on the pilings, but the creosote kills them. There hadn’t been any herring in the creek for many years. The Streamkeepers had started wrapping pilings in Squamish a few years earlier. Six years later a strong herring run had attracted hundreds of dolphins and Orcas. The group also installed hanging nets in False Creek where herring can lay additional eggs. In 2018 a billion eggs were laid. This is such a phenomenal result the streamkeepers predict the return of dolphins and orcas. What a terrific success for a volunteer group with a vision and determination to carry it out.

 

We paddled out of False Creek, past Vanier Park and Kits beach. Further along is what I have long called the “sewer lot” This is another large CSO that has a bad smell during rain events. For a number of years, I lived a few blocks inland from there and launched from the pipe that extends out to sea. (Later I moved farther west, and my launch site was below a steep staircase.) Beside the CSO is the most valuable home and property in B.C. I call it “Chip’s Big Bunker” because it is constructed from massive concrete slabs. When Chip first built it he had a mural painted on the substantial seawall that fronts his property. It was attractive and featured some cartoon characters and a beautifully painted bird. Unfortunately, he did not get city approval and they made him paint over it. For years after that there were only ugly tags and markings on the wall. I saw that this time, though, the wall had been painted bright baby blue. It is visible from far and wide because it is the biggest and brightest. It doesn’t look as fine as the original, though. Chip’s claim to fame is that he was able to convince half the women in the First World to wear tights on the street. They must be comfortable.
As we rounded Spanish Banks and Point Grey at low tide, far out past shore, we passed by a few Herons, standing in ankle deep water, fishing. Always a good sign. When we entered the North Arm of the Fraser River on an incoming tide the vast array of pilings that the logging industry uses to hold fast their log booms came into view. What surprised me was that most of them were empty. In years past there would have been booms tied up to most of them. Now there were logs only directly along the navigable sides of the river and a couple of small tugs pushing them around. I wonder if this is another indication of the decline of B.C.’s forest industry?

 

I had been looking forward to paddling the Fraser River Estuary, an area I don’t know well. It has long been the greatest salmon river in the world and is a feeding place for hundreds of thousands of birds. But the approximately 2 1/2 million human inhabitants of greater Vancouver are pushing against its natural fecundity in many ways. 70% of its waterways are impacted by dams, levies, causeways, gravel quarries, dredges and other structures. This is part of a worldwide trend. According to Scientific American, August, 2019: “Only 23% of the subset of the longest rivers that connect to the ocean are unimpeded along their entire lengths…for the rest human infrastructure is starving estuaries and deltas of key nutrients”.
A little farther up the North Arm we came upon the Iona Sewage Treatment Plant that treats sewage from Vancouver and Richmond. Sometimes the smell is pretty bad but, on this day, with a favorable breeze, it was O.K. This is a primary treatment plant only, which means that only solids are removed. It does not remove toxic chemicals dumped by households, businesses, and industry, including heavy metals such as mercury, lead, copper and chromium. The waste effluent reduces oxygen in the water, which suffocates fish. There is a plan to build a new plant with secondary waste capabilities by 2030. This would treat the water at a microbiological level, but still will not remove toxic chemicals. Quite a few environmentalists are pushing for tertiary treatment.

 

Urban paddling presents special challenges. You can’t just go ashore, dig a hole, have a poop, and set up camp. (Even though in this case the waste treatment plant was just downstream) For this special trip along Vancouver’s environs, my wife, Theresa, picked us up and dropped us off in our small electric car. Payback will come later. We pulled into Milltown Marina at the foot of Granville Street. This has the feel of a family operation. There is a sizable dock area, a pub with good food, a storage area for boats and lots of good energy. I think that they lease the property from Squamish First Nation. They tolerate us even though we don’t belong to the marina. We do eat their food and drink their beer, though. One day I carried my folded kayak on the Skytrain to New Westminster, launched not far from the market on the quay there and headed down river with the tide. When I pulled out at Milltown and started disassembling my kayak, I happened to meet the manager. It was winter. He asked me what I was doing, and I told him where I had launched and that I was walking to the nearest car2go rental to drive home. He told me to hop into his car and drove me to my rental. When I first led Evan on a similar route, I didn’t tell him about the pub beforehand and you can’t really see it from the water. That was a welcome surprise for him.

 

As we paddled the East Arm of the Fraser alongside Sea Island the next day, we passed a lot of power boats tied up at marinas. I’ve wondered in the past about what level of emissions they create. Boats are inefficient because water is difficult to push through. This is obvious to a paddler. Battery powered boats do exist, but so far lack range and speed. Most of these boats, which are often seen as pits to pour money into, are not used much. Maybe three weeks a year. A report prepared for the GVRD and federal government indicated that the amount of GHGs they spout is substantial, but small compared to other sources. For example, for B.C other than the GVRD and Fraser River District, oceangoing vessels contributed 699,073 tonnes of CO2 in 2000, fishing vessels contributed 14,324 tonnes and recreational vessels: 7,877 tonnes. B.C.s total emissions in 2015 were 63.3 million tonnes. There is a group called “Clean Marine BC” that is promoting environmentally sound recreational boating. They at least recognize some of the issues and are trying to deal with them.
After passing the Olympic Oval and under the two bridges connecting Sea Island to Lulu Island we caught up to some Canada Geese swimming along shore. They seemed to be going as fast as they could, but did not fly. At first you couldn’t see them, as they were sheltered by the adults, but yes, there were a number of goslings in there. We swerved away from the bank to give them some space, but yikes, a seaplane was suddenly bearing down on us. We just stopped then and watched the Harbour Air seaplane land and taxi up to the dock below the Flying Beaver Grill and Bar. Harbour Air is the largest seaplane airline in the world and they have some great news, especially for an ex-pilot like me. They are teaming up with MagniX, a company in Redmond, Washington, that makes electric motors and battery systems for airplanes, to make a completely electric, zero emission airline. Tests on a de Havilland Beaver powered by a 750 HP electric motor will begin this year. (The test flight, flown by company founder Greg McDougall, on Dec. 10, 2019, was successful) The airline serves more than 500,000 passengers on 30,000 short distance flights every year. This is significant. In 2018 75% of worldwide flights were 1,000 miles or less, and that is the market that MagniX sees developing. The electric planes should be much quieter too. Back when I was training to be a commercial pilot some of the bush pilots were quite deaf, which is one reason why I didn’t make a career in aviation. I like quiet. I ended up spending a lot of my time in a noisy machine shop instead.