Ocean Disposal in British Columbia

British Columbia has required many site-specific monitoring programs on point source marine discharges. Most of these are located around the almost landlocked Strait of Georgia, where impacts may overlap. Neither provincial nor federal authorities have found a means to implement regional-scale long-term monitoring programs, nor to appraise regional assimilative capacity as a management strategy. Assessment results indicate that since construction of beach sewers almost 100 years ago, there have been few fish kills, and in recent years, little indication of persistent low-level biological impact outside industrial dilution zones, and no cases of infectious and non-infectious waterborne disease epidemics. Recreational beaches have had pollution warnings removed in areas where sewage has been diverted to deep ocean outfalls. Some fisheries losses due to chemical tainting, and shellfish closures, litter, turbidity and discoloration remain as persistent environmental problems. Trace chemical contamination needs further mapping.