The Sandher plant was inspected again in July. It remains out of compliance and the Sandhers will likely be fined again. Sandhers continued to discharge illegally until May 15th, 2024 according to plant manager Chris Stewart. Since the Sandhers are at the end of their 'matrix' (Level 2, Category C) their fines will increase. Sandhers pay a fortune in escalating fines for their determined failure to dig a $25k lined sewage field. HERE.
All eyes are on the night-time discharges of the Sandher Fruit Packers plant at 3231 Old Vernon Road. There has been no work done on a lined sewage field so illegal plant discharge will be going into the ditch out front again. Sandhers brought the first Unitec Optical cherry sorting line to North America in 2009. First complaints of their dumping surfaced in 2010 with Sukhdev Sandher's Royal Fruit. The Sandhers have never had wastewater discharge authorization.
30. The Ministry finds that Sandher is not currently authorized under EMA to discharge any waste to the environment.
These would be the documents outlining the reasons for the Sandher's 3rd fine of $78,368. There are many. Here. The last fine was $78,368 for discharging effluent into a failed septic field. That brings the Sandher total to almost $111k since 2018. Sandher was given six months to apply for a permit in September 2023, but that has been rejected twice by the MoE for incomplete information. They had until May 10 to remedy deficiencies in the application. MoE fines are a cost of doing business for the Sandhers.
April 17, 2024
"We have read the determination from the province. We accept their determination and intend to fully comply." Here.
Info shows up at the MoE. Here.
"While we accept the administrative penalty, we wish to once again reiterate, the limited water that was discharged in the past was used only to wash apples and cherries, has been tested, and poses no risk to public health or the environment." Gurtaj Sandher neglects to mention that fruit packing is a prescribed business under the EMA and a waste disposal authorization was required in 2017 as plant discharge is going to ground. 7 years and 2 abandoned applications later the Sandhers are still dumping illegally into a Kelowna ditch.
Gurtaj Sandher's first fine for illegal dumping was $575 in 2018. This fine resulted from a January 2024 MoE report, and wastewater dumping continued after that inspection because a citizen video recorded it in February. That video busted these reprobates dead cold. Sandher discharge of 99,000+ liters per day is a concoction of detergent, bleach, and 'ShieldBrite' coating. Gurtaj Sandher likely isn't losing any sleep over this fine from the MoE either. He is most concerned about what color the new paintjob on his Lambo is gonna be.
"Gurtaj Sandher
Hahahaha nah mine yellow for now brah debating between Gold or Blue Tony Nguyen."
Gurtaj Sandher, President of Sandher Fruit Packers decided to splain things. HERE. "We understand that the complaints raised by some of our neighbours with local media come from a place of genuine concern, but these concerns are unfounded and are based on understandable misunderstandings or false information."
The B.C. cherry market is 19,000 tonnes from 5,100 acres with Global Fruit in Creston claiming half that. That is probably around $80m+ worth of cherries. Bir Sandher may provide half of Andre Bailey's supply. That is $20m last year selling cherries. We may assume he has around 1,300 acres in cherries from which he got around 5,000 tonnes. Bir Sandher controls over 1,000 acres of apples. The total there is 6,700 producing so Bir Sandher must have about 15% of that $130m market too. Bir Sandher probably does $35m in business each and every year. He has never had a wastewater disposal authorization in B.C.
The MoE report of February 2, 2024 contains photos of Sandher's sewage field. This is the same unlined sewage field used since 2017 to offload at least 99,000 liters of wastewater per day. MoE points to the pooling of sewage.
The sewage system is overloaded and leaching. Photos were taken weeks before the Sandher's next night time discharge was caught on video by a citizen around Feb 6, 2024. The Sandhers discharge their wastewater into a ditch along Old Vernon Road at night. HERE.
In March 2017 the MoE issued its 1st warning letter to Sandher at 3231 Old Vernon Road. The Sandhers applied for a discharge permit in March 2018. It was abandoned.
Prabtaj Sandher explained the economics to MPs. Tako VanPopta, Langley—Aldergrove and Tracy Gray, Kelowna—Lake Country got free apples.
Video of the Sandher's latest offense was posted February 6, 2024. Residents of the rural community of Ellison are complaining again about the overpowering stench of sewage. In 2022, the Ministry of the Environment levied a $32k fine against Sandher for violating waste discharge regulations and ignoring warnings. The $32k fine was paid Aug. 23, 2022. That didn't stop the discharge of waste.
An inspector was falsely told 57,120 liters per day of waste water is produced. The actual number exceeds 99,000 liters. 4 chemicals are used, including phosphoric acid. Sodium hypchlorite is liquid bleach, Acidx Dual is a cleaner used to remove natural wax so that a coating of Shield-Brite® can be applied. Shield-Brite® AP-450 is a shellac-based coating. Construction began without the company submitting engineered drawings and site plans.
Sandher Fruit Packers Ltd. was ordered to stop building it's huge plant in 2019 because it failed to obtain any permits. It took two stop work orders before compliance.
Sandher Fruit Packers faced 3 fines, a maximum $150 each, for failure to obtain building permits.
Prabtaj Sandher said the plant had to get built before cherry season.
Bir Sandher was 18 when he moved from Punjab in 1982.
In February 2018 the Sandhers received a $575 fine for an unauthorized discharge. Last inspection on February 2, 2024 recommended more fines.
Sandher Fruit Packing Ltd. in #Kelowna received a $32,000 administrative penalty for discharging wastewater via an unauthorized septic system and disposal field. The company previously received 2 warnings and a violation ticket for the same thing .ow.ly/r4IZ50I8a1X pic.twitter.com/WYwzUl8i1g
— Environmental Compliance BC (@ComplianceBC) August 3, 2022
The Sandhers applied for a discharge permit again in March 2023. That application was abandoned. Despite never having waste discharge authorization after 7 years operations the Sandhers are expanding. Sandher cherry operations are expanding into wine growing areas. The cherry orchard expansion, 343 acres, is on land owned by G.P. Sandher Holdings Ltd. It has applied to the Black Mountain Irrigation District to get water to 1,000 acres of its land. Once the cherry trees are planted, it takes four years to start getting a crop and six years for a full crop. The Sandhers, through Global Fruit in Creston, started selling into South Korea.
Latest for the Sandhers is an application (their 3rd) to offload wastewater directly into a ditch. No, we aren't making this up. Leading chemical is Shield-Brite® which is an antifungal agent and coating used instead of chlorine to stop surface rot.
"Do not discharge into sewers, lakes, streams, or other bodies of water."
Previously this waste was flushed into the sewage system. That inadequate system is breaking down completely again, something neighbors know too well.
Mill Creek
“During the fruit washing process, wastewater is discharged from the facility into (a) disposal field via a septic tank system.” The Sandhers have never had authorization to discharge their growing volumes of wastewater. Wastewater in Sandher ditches ultimately leads to Simpsons Pond and Mill Creek and will damage fish-bearing ecosystems.
In spring 2016 applicants Sukhwinderjit and Bir Sandher won a development permit that allowed trailers for 60 temporary agricultural workers at their residence/orchard at 1610 Swainson Rd. Those workers joined 80 others on various Sandher ALR properties. GP Sandher Holdings had tried to import an additional 250 Mexicans. That was frowned upon. Kelowna counsellor Luke Stack praised Bir Sandher for being a "serious farmer who seems willing to play by the rules." We have a massive large security fence around this $5m+ compound, probably to protect the asshole occupants from public citizen mobs.
MoE points to the pooling of sewage.
Sandher Fruit Packers Ltd. was ordered to stop building it's huge plant in 2019 because it failed to obtain any permits. It took two stop work orders before compliance.
Sandher Fruit Packers faced 3 fines, a maximum $150 each, for failure to obtain building permits.
Prabtaj Sandher said the plant had to get built before cherry season.
Bir Sandher was 18 when he moved from Punjab in 1982.
Once the cherry trees are planted, it takes four years to start getting a crop and six years for a full crop. The Sandhers, through Global Fruit in Creston, started selling into South Korea.
Leading chemical is Shield-Brite® which is an antifungal agent and coating used instead of chlorine to stop surface rot.
Mill Creek
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