The Cassidy Aquifer- Nanaimo
by Lavonne Garnett

I recently attended a presentation given by Dr. StevenEarle of Malaspina College, in which he revealed the results of new studies conducted on Nanaimo District
groundwater. One stunning map Dr. Earle showed of the Nanaimo District area reveals the largest aquifer to be a Red Zone for vulnerability to contamination, and
on top of the Cassidy Aquifer sits the current Nanaimo Airport. This information is strikingly at odds with information provided by the Nanaimo Airport Commission
that claims the clay soils are impervious to water flow and any contaminants.

As water is increasingly a threatened resource on Vancouver Island, with fewer natural, clean sources remaining, it seems inconceivable to fool hardy to increase the possibility of contamination to the
Cassidy Aquifer. This aquifer serves many residential wells and increasingly threatened farms that we need for local food production. The airport itself is in the middle of Agricultural Land Reserve lands, as a
result of its original use as a wartime glider port in the 1940s. Being in a rural residential area and over top of the Cassidy Aquifer, the land never should have been developed as an airport in the first place, but people
back then were not as aware as we are now.

When one looks at other provinces, it is a given that most people have to get themselves to the capital city or major center, either by car, bus, train or connecting flight, to fly to other large cities. It is not common for citizens to have 3 large airports concentrated within a 150 km radius from which to choose. With concerns for our environment, it would
make sense to decrease automobile traffic and increase bus, train or shuttle transportation to Comox and Victoria, before adding more flights, noisier planes in a residential area, and increased risks for spills and even crashes, both on the runway and on the land mass over the aquifer.

Tourists will take float planes to remote wilderness for what it offers in tranquility. It doesn't take much to convince people to come here with or without large aircraft landing in Nanaimo, providing we maintain what is left of the beauty, peace and resources this island provides.

I urge anyone who sees the value of being proactive and practicing prevention rather than reaction to a foreseen accident to express your concerns to the Premier, the Minister of the Environment and to the Agricultural Land Commission.

Bottom line is we must make decisions to protect what we have left of our environment.