Chase Environmental Action Society claims tire berm leaching chemicals into Little Shuswap Lake

Toxic chemical detected

Photo: Luc Rempel

Part of tire berm as seen from the waterside when water levels were low.

The Chase Environmental Action Society says recent testing shows chemicals harmful to salmon are being leached into Little Shuswap Lake by a collapsing tire berm on the shoreline.

The large tire berm is almost 1,000 feet long and is made up of about 4,000 rubber tires filled with concrete and rocks and lashed together by steel cables. The berm was installed in the early 1990s in an attempt to fight erosion and keep a nearby field above the water.

At this point, the berm is beginning to come apart and tires are falling into the water.

In a statement, Angie McLaren, chair of the Chase Environmental Action Society, said the group is concerned the tires are leaching harmful chemicals into the water.

McLaren said new research shows 6PPD, a chemical commonly used as a stabilizer in rubber tires, can break down into more harmful chemicals when exposed to sunlight or ground level ozone. The society is chiefly concerned with 6PPD-quinone, or 6PPDQ.

“This compound is acutely toxic to some species of fish including coho salmon and rainbow trout,” McLaren said.

She said the environmental society has been in contact with a chemistry professor at Vancouver Island University who offered to test some water samples for 6PPDQ. In early December of 2025, the society sent off four samples of water from different areas of the tire berm for testing.

“Test results showed that all four samples had detectable concentrations of 6PPDQ,” McLaren said. “Three samples had concentrations above the BC Water Quality Guideline for this compound, which is 10 nanograms per litre.

Three of the samples tested at levels of about 30 nanograms per litre, which is only slightly less than the 41.9 nanograms per litre concentration that is lethal to coho salmon.

McLaren said the society believes 6PPDQ has been leaching out of the tire berm for a few decades now and will continue to do so until they are removed.

“Our ultimate goal is to clean up this environmental blight with the assistance of the landowners, local citizens, organizations, and governments,” she said.

In November, the society brought Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer out to see the tire berm for himself.

At the time, Stamer pledged to talk to the Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship about the issue.

For their part, McLaren said environmental society members will continue to push to get the tire berm removed and will be conducting further tests to see what other metals and chemicals could be leaching into the water.