A company that dismantles and recycles ships on a stretch of British Columbia coastline has been penalized $46,105 for releasing effluent laced with high concentrations of toxic metals into the ocean. The “major” administrative penalties to Deep Water Recovery Ltd.
come after the company allowed the toxic effluent to flow into the ocean near Vancouver Island’s Union Bay at least seven times between 2023 and 2024, according to a recent decision from Environmental Management Act director Jason Bourgeois. The toxic waste was found to contain elevated levels of copper, zinc and lead, that at the high end, exceeded provincial water quality guidelines by nearly 24,000 per cent. At those levels, Bourgeois wrote, the effluent could result in “a very serious threat to the environment.” Mark Jurisich, the Canada operations manager for Deep Water Recovery, said the company would contest the penalties. He said the area was already polluted due to a long history of coal and copper mining, and that his company's operation had nothing to do with the toxic water samples. “This whole area is rich in these minerals. If it’s coming out of the ground, you might not agree with it, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” he said. “It’s got nothing to do with what we’re doing.” Mary Reynolds, a Union Bay woman who has spent the last few years monitoring the industrial ship-breaking operation with a drone, said the latest penalties are the largest sanction Deep Water has faced so far. “It’s not much, but it’s a start,” she said. “There’s just no precautions. They torch apart the ship on soil. There’s nothing preventing anything from running down into the ocean.” Multiple warnings Deep Water Recovery's 111-acre beachfront facility receives ships and barges from across B.C. and overseas. When a vessel arrives, workers cut it into smaller sections with shears and torche
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