The largest impact on Georgia Strait of any single pollution source comes from the GVRD, which discharges 72% of total sewage entering the Strait, compared to only 6% from the Victoria area.

"Oh, but at least Vancouver's sewage is treated", you say. Well, not exactly. An awful lot of Vancouver's sewage spills into the harbour before it's ever been near a treatment plant. This happens because of the GVRD's antiquated system of combined sewage overflows (CSOs), in which storm runoff and sewage share the same pipes. On rainy days, the storm drains full up and mix with raw sewage and the whole mess overflows into the shallow waters of Burrard Inlet, False Creek, and the Fraser River - a total of 200 CSO "events" per year, equal to 62 billion litres (enough to fill the 60,000 seat BC Place Stadium 30 times over).

While the GVRD is the only Canadian jurisdiction in Georgia Strait that still has CSOs, the effects are not limited to the Lower mainland. Commercial fishers often report raw sewage fouling their nets. Last summer residents of Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast watched in alarm as a band of raw sewage, 600 feet long by 3 feet wide, rolled onto their beach -complete with tampons, condoms, toilet paper and grey sludge. A couple of days of heavy rain, a southeast gale, the current of the Fraser River, and a high tide -a combination of fairly normal occurrences- had combined to bring the stinking mess to their doorsteps.

Though the GVRD has been studying the problems of CSOs for twenty years, they've been moving at a glacial pace to do anything about it, and in fact, recently removed money from the CSO abatement budget while ordering yet another study.