Public health officials are assuring the public that everything is under control following a sewer main leak near Olympic Village Thursday, but the incident is raising concerns about contamination and public health.
While the City of Vancouver was able to contain most of the leak — which caused effluent to spew into False Creek — some areas within Hinge Park were contaminated.
Those areas have been cordoned off and are now being flushed with clean water, says Vancouver Coastal Health medical health officer Michael Schwandt.
Schwandt says the city needs to consider how much of the sewage made it into the park, the concentration of pathogens, and the weather surrounding the incident.
“The park area is a bit of a concern,” he said.
“Actually, there’s children and dogs that are playing in the area, so it’s important to keep them out of those areas that are blocked off.”
Schwandt says flushing out Hinge Park will pose a challenge to the city since it was designed to be a cooler, wetlands area that retains rainwater.
The main risk of coming into contact with the sewage includes gastrointestinal illnesses such as vomiting and diarrhea.
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As for False Creek itself, Schwandt says people have already been advised to steer clear of swimming there, due to E-coli and other contaminants.
“The threshold for the bacterial counts are quite a bit different than they would be for a swimming beach,” he told CityNews.
Schwandt says boating, canoeing, and paddleboarding in the area are fine, as people don’t submerge their bodies in water during those activities.
Testing is now underway to ensure the waterways don’t exceed Health Canada guidelines for contamination.
The health authority says it’s monitoring the situation carefully.