"They've killed my damn town": anger follows Mount Polley tailings pond breach
Water is green and fish are floating upside down, say residents near the site of the Mount Polley copper and gold mine.
A complete water ban affecting about 300 local residents is in effect after five million cubic metres of tailings pond wastewater from mine was released early Monday into Hazeltine Creek.
That's an amount of water equivalent to about 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Skeed Boorkowski and his wife Sharon own a destination fly fishing lodge in the area.
He says he and his neighbours are trying to come to grips with what has happened.
"This thing is so surreal, so unneccessary, the whole community is just so devastated," he told CBC. "This is our life, this is why we're here, this water is so pristine. And they've killed it. They've killed my town, they've killed my damn town."