Harrison Hot Springs residents and officials are flabbergasted as workers with the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa allegedly installed a fence around the natural hot springs pools near the resort.
A sign was erected at the hot springs source last week, stating that by order of the The B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship, the area surrounding the hot springs source was to be brought back to its natural state. This includes removing the rocks in the pool and repairing the leak in the pipe at the hot springs source that initially generated the pools; the pools are situated near a village building used to collect the spring water.
The ministry began an investigation into the natural pools after workers from the resort filled in the pools with boulders. As the pools are considered a Crown resource, making a significant change like that is strictly prohibited without ministry approval. While the village received approval to work on the boulders in the area earlier this year, no such permission was given to the resort to fill in the pools last fall.
The resort told Harrison Hot Springs officials that the pools were filled in because they posed a potential health and safety hazard and they had worries about the materials used to build the pools.
According to a press release from the village on Monday, May 26, village officials have opposed the construction of a fence since talks surrounding the future of the hot springs pools commenced last fall. The village proposed educational signage in the area in hopes of protecting private and public infrastructure in a way that respects the property as well as the significance and traditional use of the hot springs by the Sts'ailes people.
The village's Halq'emeylem name – as well as the name of the springs themselves – is "Qwólts," which is translated to "boiling water" or "medicine water." The hot springs have two sources – Potash and Sulphur – which can create water temperatures up to 65C. The water from these sources are hold some of highest concentrations of minerals in the country. Several decades ago, the water from the hot springs source was bottled and sold for medicinal purposes.
The village stated that the resort has not engaged with local officials in discussing the "considerable potential to enhance the hot springs experience" at the public pool and the resort. Officials have called for the fence to be removed and called upon the resort to meet with the village officials as well as Sts'ailes leadership.
"The resort’s unilateral decision to fence off the hot springs to restrict public access to this public resource is very disappointing," the official statement from the village reads. "This unilateral action by the resort raises the question whether the resort's monopoly over the public’s use of hot springs should continue."
The resort's parent company, Saliance Global Holdings (of which The Aldesta Group is a subsidiary), currently holds a conditional water license to the hot springs, from the Ministry of of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship. This license is set to expire in 2037.
The provincial ministry, the resort and the Aldesta Group who owns the resort have not returned requests for comment from The Observer.
