Rotten on Bowen: cidergate series POST 7
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
Starting here, this series of posts looks at the law, the facts, and the science surrounding the issuing of a Temporary Use Permit to Riley’s Cidery in 2021 and the consequences of that action.
pulling the trigger
Rob Purdy and Christine Hardie put their names to a Temporary Use Permit application to open a cidery in consultation with Bowen Municipal Manager of Planning and Development Daniel Martin in late January 2021. It was approved, and then the cidery was opened, without care or attention to the real world consequences.
inexplicable and indefensible
The information I will be going through here, in this post and the next couple of posts, is and was not obscure, or top secret, or strange. It is not imaginary or exaggerated.
Even minimal due diligence, competence, by Bowen Island Municipality, staff or Council, or by Vancouver Coastal Health, would have openly addressed and dealt with the inherent risks of this light industrial land use. It would have addressed the ways in which this could be managed to minimise any water impacts, and it would have addressed the entirely legitimate and reasonable concerns of neighbours like us. It would have taken seriously the larger consequences of risk to community water resources, and the precedents this permission allowed.
And that was not just possible, not just a hypothetical past that could have been. It was and is also their responsibility to have done those things. The Municipality and VCH should have done those things.
Didn’t happen that way. In fact, it appears that the municipality and then VCH allowed themselves to be compromised, and then (still now) doubled down on the mistakes they made, without regard for the harms and consequences of those mistakes. And those harms and consequences are not restricted to Riley’s Cidery and its impacts, real and serious as those are; they have much larger implications than that for Bowen Island.
fairytales:
Rob and Christine put the application forwards in their individual names. That in itself is something of a deception, which I will get to in later posts.
This whole process, the story they have chosen to tell and perpetuate, depends on promoting the uncritical, credulous and permissive indulgence of a highly manipulated version of reality in which they defined the terms. Unfortunately, and in damaging ways, that version does not accord to fact.
“We have two goals with the cidery, to support community and to promote biodiversity”
Rob Purdy and Christine Hardie
Bowen Island Undercurrent, March 18, 2021
If they were sincere about those goals, if this whole exercise was authentically about those things, there were entirely possible routes to working through this process that would have demonstrated care and real commitment to community and biodiversity. Those are not the choices Rob and Christine made, or are making.
And they have continually been enabled by deficient and incompetent government, who owe us all much more than they have delivered.
biodiversity #notjustahashtag; it doesn’t need promotion, it needs protection, care and honesty
In my last post, I talked largely about the betrayal of biodiversity. Part of my consideration was the profoundly empty spectacle of Bowen Municipality’s presentation of themselves as qualified to “engage the community on biodiversity conservation and promote stewardship“, and “bring a national concept [biodiversity protection] to the local level“, while actually – in the real world – failing to meet the actual responsibilities they have to protect biodiversity and water.
The biodiversity and climate crises are very real and very urgent. There is not, to steal a phrase, time and world enough for games and empty posturing about this.
Treating those things as opportunities for self-promotion and self-congratulation is destructive. It implicitly carries both the failure to honestly account for reality or address real harms, and a new obstacle to meaningful or substantive change. This seems to me, to echo Teju Cole, primarily about seeking “a big emotional experience that validates privilege”, an exercise in narcissistic sentiment.
Real world harm
But what isn’t actually particularly complicated is the damage already done, and the future harms this signposts. Not least to Bowen Island’s very own biodiversity.
This first post offers a deep dive into the science of making cider, and the biodiversity threat from the water impact. The next post (or posts) will move onto the municipal and provincial background.
1. lessons in chemistry, and biology
C6H12O6 + 2 ADP + 2 Pi → 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 + 2 ATP
Making alcohol relies on a particular process, fermentation. Fermentation is essentially the result of the action of yeast (or very occasionally, bacteria) on sugar in an oxygen-free or limited environment.
The sugar content (C6H12O6 + 2 ADP + 2 Pi) of the source material (fruit, grain, vegetable) is acted on by the yeast, triggering a chemical process. Basically, the sugars are broken down into:
- C2H5OH aka ethanol, ethyl alcohol – ALCOHOL content
- CO2 aka carbon dioxide – BUBBLES or waste product
- ATP – molecule that is an energy carrier – CALORIC content
carbon dioxide
Popular Mechanics has a good article, on exploding beer cans, that illustrates the basics of fermentation and carbon dioxide production:
Carbon dioxide is a significant product of alcohol production, and its discharge can be considered an environmental concern. See for example https://daily.sevenfifty.com/carbon-capture-during-fermentation-could-make-wine-a-negative-emission-industry/.
Sometimes, and in part, the produced carbon dioxide can be used for carbonation – bubbles – but it generally needs to be discharged during the process of fermentation to prevent the build-up of excess pressure in the tightly sealed and full tanks or other containers, leading to explosions.
ATP
ATP can be understood as a carrier – it’s really a shuttle for energy content. This gives alcohol its caloric (energy) content – or rather, can be utilised by the body to extract energy from alcohol.
Explaining the processes and mechanisms involved is really outside the scope of what is needed here; basically, fermentation triggers the process where ADP (Adenosine diphosphate) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) in the sugar source act to become ATP.
anaerobic
The need to prevent outside air, and oxygen entering into the fermentation process, except in very small, controlled amounts, serves a few largely yeast related purposes. Firstly, without much oxygen to fuel its growth, the fierceness of the intended yeast’s actions are concentrated on fermentation – that is, on producing alcohol.
Secondly, , the lack of oxygen prevents or inhibits secondary yeast growths. One of the biggest spoilers of an alcohol product is “filmic yeast”, a scummy surface froth that sits on top of fermented alcohol. Thirdly, but related, preventing the free entry of air and oxygen limits or blocks airborne yeasts and other potential contaminants getting into the cider or other alcohol.
yeast
yeast resources:
There are huge numbers of popular and scientific resources available on yeast. A thorough and comprehensive entry point is offered by two sites from the French Lesaffre group (one of the biggest producers and sellers of commercial yeasts):
Yeast is a form of fungi. It is a single celled organism pretty much interested in only one thing – its own reproduction. And all it needs for that is oxygen, moisture and a nutrient (mostly sugar) source. Unless stressed, it reproduces asexually. It grows aggressively, and is untroubled by contaminants that slow the growth of other organisms.
There are somewhere between 1,500-2,000 known yeast strains, but those are only the ones that have been formally identified – there may well be hundreds of thousands.
Humans have used yeast to bake and ferment for possibly millions of years, without understanding until recently the nature of yeast or the science involved. Ancient Egyptians credited the gods for yeast’s benefits; in 2019, using 4,500 year old re-activated old yeast scraped from Egyptian baking and brewing vessels, one man baked a loaf of bread.
That yeast was a living substance, and that it was precisely this living, reproducing, formidable energy of yeast that drove fermentation wasn’t scientifically understood or described until Louis Pasteur turned his attention to this in the 1850s.
It was also only around that time that commercial yeast started to become available. Until then, brewers, bakers, wine and cidermakers, relied on varied wild yeasts, often with little knowledge or understanding of their role or even existence.
Yeast constitutes roughly 1% of all fungi on earth and fungi represent roughly 2.2% of all the biomass on earth. For comparison that is more than all the animals on earth. And much more than all humans (0.01%).
source: https://www.exploreyeast.com/what-is-yeast/10-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-yeast/
saccharomyces cerevisiae
this is the domesticated form of yeast that is used commercially for baking and fermenting. It offers more stability, more control, of those processes and limits the unpredictability and spoilage (of flavour and product) that wild yeasts often lead to.
See the article Baker’s yeast: Three surprising things you might not know from Rochester University for an exploration of the history, genetics and use of s. cerevisiae.
bioactive, dormant and opportunistic
Yeast is all of those things, as are a host of other bacteria and fungi. Cider production, as with all alcohol production, produces wastes that are both host to these things, and provide a rich nutrient environment for them to grow and thrive. Water is the carrier – fruit is washed, mashed, juiced, fermented, leaving both intrinsically watery residues and the creation of new adulterated water waste.
Cider production is a perfect storm for producing vast quantities of water adulterated with bioactive organisms and their food. Water is used at every stage, to clean the fruit, and to clean out the machinery and equipment at both the preliminary and late stages of production. And this isn’t a one time step – cider undergoes two fermentations – primary and secondary. The transfer between primary fermentation, in barrel or tank, involves processes like racking – which removes yeasty residues.
While some yeast in the fermentation process dies in use, not all of it does, and this lingers on in the waste rinsed out of tanks, barrels, hoses, and all the attendant equipment. And the equipment needs to not only be clean, but very, very clean, to avoid contaminating the next batch with residual yeasts, bacteria and faults.
Farm production provides an ambient environment for all this watery waste to grow, and be colonised by wild strains of yeast and other hungry organisms.
good yeast, bad yeast, too much, not enough
The criteria for judging cider, literally, as set out in guidelines for training and certifying cider judges feature a long, long list of faults to look for, and many of those are caused by – yeast. But as often, a fault can just be a positive that’s just gone too far, or a fermentation that hasn’t quite gone far enough – again, caused by yeast.
Making cider depends on the manipulation, action and volatility of yeast particularly, but also implicates a range of other bacteria. Spoilage and infection frequently indicate the action of wild yeasts in particular, or of other bacteria. For example, “farmyard” flavour, often caused by the yeast Brettanomyces:
At high levels generally indicative of an undesirable bacterial or Brettanomyces infection, however at lower levels may include desirable flavors and aromas from malolactic fermentation. A wide range of flavor and aroma may result, with some overlap between desirable malolactic fermentation and undesirable Brettanomyces infection. Hints of old horse may be OK, while an overt pig manure or sewage character is not.
source: https://www.bjcp.org/education-training/education-resources/cider-faults/, retrieved April 19, 2024
Oxygen, mould and bacteria, are constant threats, especially in a wet environment, with active yeast present. Cider production requires constant and repeated care to remove, limit and kill those risk factors, at every stage – before, during and after cider production. And, again, water is the crucial medium for washing, rinsing, cleaning, diluting, and holding all that waste.
what else is in there?
Cider also contains other substances, and creates other residues. For instance, sulphites, tartrates and tannins are words that may be familiar to serious wine drinkers, or allergy and migraine sufferers. All these can be present in cider, either naturally or as additives.
For example, the addition of sulphur dioxide or other compounds in the process of making cider can add further sulphites. These are often added to kill wild yeasts and bacteria, and to hinder oxidation, which can spoil the final product.
The fruit – grapes or apples – carry sulphites, bacteria, wild yeasts, fungi, and moulds with them. They also carry the imprint of the soil and water – which can include all of the above, plus heavy metals, like arsenic, cadmium and lead. In and of themselves, these aren’t necessarily at levels to be hazardous.
However, re-irrigating with wastewater, or adding waste to soil, without any or much remediation or treatment, can reinforce and strengthen potentially problematic pre-existing characteristics.
It can also, when off-site fruit and associated waste are present, lead to the introduction and spread of disease. This is something I will cover in more detail when I look at the whole issue of sourcing apples, and the related issue of heritage and related biodiversity claims made for Riley’s Cidery.
Making cider, as with making wine or any other alcoholic beverage, often involves the addition and balancing of all sorts of inputs. These can be to hinder, exaggerate or trigger particular results, for taste, mouth feel, sweetness, acidity. Or they can be to prevent or minimise spoilage, oxidation and potential bacteria growth. Cider, and alcohol products generally, don’t have to list their ingredients. But they can be far more various than most consumers would think.
Shown alongside, UK government regulation sets out Permitted ingredients for Cider Duty – ie ingredients in what can reasonably be called cider.
where does all that water go?
As I hope should be abundantly clear by now, waste and wastewater from cidermaking is characterised by very high levels, concentrated residues, of organic, bioactive materials. Where that water goes, and how much of it there is, are critical questions.
And – spoiler alert – they’re not questions that are a surprise to anyone in the business of making cider, or in the business – like Bowen Island Municipality – of managing wastewater from alcohol production.
And again, what is not a surprise to anyone involved is the very, very large quantity of the waste, water waste, produced – ten times or more the liquid volume of cider produced is a not unusual ratio.
In my next post, I’ll look in more detail at the mechanics of managing water and waste in making alcohol and cidermaking, and the documentary record of the Municipality and other bodies on wastewater management, as well as the best practice and training models for cidermakers and other alcohol producers.
What will also become apparent then is the volume, use, and type of chemicals used to clean, scour, disinfect and sanitise equipment – again, all carried in water, and water that enters the waste cycle – whatever that may be. Again, none of this is a surprise to anyone involved in making cider.
but there’s no water here, just happiness, community, biodiversity and some wonderful human beings
Consistently, Rob and Christine, along with supporters and cheerleaders like Councillor Maureen Nicholson, and Bowen Island’s Undercurrent newspaper, repeat the false and misleading water narrative I described in my earlier posts, 3: Riley’s Cidery and Bowen Island Municipality – on the brink: and 5: Riley’s Cidery and BIM: swimming with sharks?
Just to refresh the memory, here’s Rob Purdy on February 22, on water and waste:
.
It’s a very different process. Our process is just apples and apple juice. There’s one input into cider, a real cider, and it’s fruit juice,, just pure 100%
So there’s no water, nothing going in.
Even before the TUP, Rob was selling this story; on a Facebook thread started by him (and later deleted) he posted the following on March 19, 2021
Water is not an input in cider, it’s just used for cleaning in the cidery, and all products used are safe for application onto our orchard afterwards, we are working with a Hydrogeologist on this and the appropriate waste water professionals, we cannot open to public without their approval. I promise you the environmental impact of what we’re doing is negligible – it’s also very important to us. Happy to answer any questions you have.
That was in response to someone citing a reply I had sent them, when we received an email telling us that there was a lively Facebook discussion about the cidery. I wrote
[personal details of recipients] I would be happy for any of you to use or cite if you are in this FB conversation:
I’m not a FB person, or social media generally, and I’m way too fragile and shook up right now to enter into the sorts of debates that happen there.
We found out just a couple of days ago that Rob & Christine already have the manufacturing licence, have had it for nearly a year, and so have been producing cider on-site without there being any environmental assessment done, or plan in place; we’ve been told he wrote on FB all about Vancouver Coastal Health, about a plan that’s not even in place, and about opening to the public.
We’re getting all our water tested – pond, stream, house. This is truly scary for us.
We get that they have friends, and that lots of people want this cidery for lots of valid and good reasons; we just need to know that it’s all been properly, publicly, evaluated, and defined, and the Temporary Use Permit is not where that happens; we just want the Muni to allow the time and process where everyone can be heard and have their questions answered in a respectful, open way.
just what exactly are they promoting?
An Undercurrent story of September 2021 celebrates an origin story and a romantic vision of Riley’s Cidery that we’ll see is not quite the truth; it contains again the misleading water myth Rob and Christine have consistently promoted, “The cider itself doesn’t take water, just a few pounds of apples“.
There is a large corpus now of stories in the Undercurrent and other media that unquestioningly celebrate Riley’s Cidery and the version of reality put forwards by Rob and Christine. The one I cite above contains again the the misleading water myth Rob and Christine have consistently promoted, “The cider itself doesn’t take water, just a few pounds of apples“, but also enlarges on and celebrates them as heroes of the protection and promotion of diversity, biodiversity, connecting the public to this as a value, etc. Although the story mentioned “controversy” and the opposition of neighbours, the only coverage or characterisation of that came from Christine Hardie:
“That was really challenging,” says Hardie. “I genuinely feel though, that it’s just such a happy, welcoming environment and I think a lot of people have really enjoyed coming.
“It’s just such a nice place to have on Bowen and I really am passionate about connecting people to that biodiversity.”
selling self-interest as the truth
We sent photos and our concerns to the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. They advised we take up our concerns with Bowen Municipality.
In late November, 2021, when we faced the nightmare of trying to work out what to do about waste dumped into Murray Creek from the cidery, turns out Rob and Christine’s big concern was promoting local cider sales as a benefit to the “entire community”.
“I trust our local health authorities to undertake the work they are charged with, and I believe they will ensure that the proposed operations at 620 Laura Road will meet the required waste regulations.”
Liam Edwards, CAO Bowen Island Municipality
I also made a FOI request to VCH – I still half-hoped that, even if no-one was telling us anything water and waste were being managed. That Rob and Christine had reported this, sought advice and remediation, and that the whole issue was actually, really, being responsibly managed.
That was not what I found when, months later, I got the records from VCH.
there’s a worm in this apple; “truth” is reality
I will get into the VCH records and the fuller scope of what they reveal when I consider that part of the wastewater story. I will also consider what they reveal about Bowen Municipality when I look at Daniel Martin, the Land Use Bylaw, how the Municipality dealt with the bylaw concerns we raised from April 2021, and the Municipality’s own knowledge of the risks of high BOD wastewater from alcohol production.
For now, here, as it directly relates to the biological waste story I’m telling, I’m just going to outline one piece of the story. A piece that demonstrates as clearly as anything else who Rob and Christine truly are.
blue mould
Research at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia is looking at ways to combat the fungal pathogen Penicillium expansum, also known as blue mould. Researcher Rhiannon Wallace, a PhD student, details how this pathogen and resultant mould “destroys millions of stored apples each year. Post-harvest rot can result in yield losses of up to 20 per cent in developed countries such as Canada, while developing countries can lose up to 50 per cent of the crop” and goes on to say:
“The majority of postharvest fungal pathogens are opportunistic…If a fruit is physically damaged, it is at an increased risk of rotting during storage. So a tiny blemish on the fruit from harvest or handling can turn into a conduit for attack by fungal pathogens and subsequently result in the development of mold.“
source: https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2017/09/13/ubc-research-looks-at-ways-to-control-rot-in-stored-apples/, retrieved April 14, 2024
meaningless promises
To receive approval from VCH, part of that process of working with wastewater professionals they had assured everyone was a guarantee of their environmental seriousness, Rob and Christine had to prepare and sign off on a HACCP plan. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point.
Christine prepared, signed and submitted the letter here in May of 2021. It promises compliance, full commitment, adherence, the enforcing of compliance, etc with the HACCP plan.
This and the next record were released to me by Vancouver Coastal Health following a Freedom of Information Request.
In the HACCP plan, Rob and Christine describe a hazard in the apple harvesting stage – “dirt/debris on or around apples” – and state it’s controlled as “apples are not collected from ground“
In a published media profile months later (published January 2022), Christine “laughingly” describes how she harvests apples by picking them up off the ground:
“Christine laughingly admits that it’s a commercial grower’s nightmare, but luckily, cidermaking allows more flexibility: they can typically wait until the fruit drops to collect it, which would be past prime if they were harvesting apples for fresh-eating use, but it’s the perfect ripeness for cidermaking.“
source: https://www.twinislandcider.com/feature-issue-3, retrieved April 14, 2024
The rotten apple spoils his companion.
Benjamin Franklin
Riley’s Cidery’s only published harvest images.
I don’t want to get all biblical, but can’t help thinking about how the Book of Matthew advises “you will know them by their fruits” – a method for detecting ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Of course, the much more relevant and harmful fruit of Rob and Christine’s labours is the damage done to community and biodiversity on Bowen Island, already and, unrecognised, into the future. I will continue with that story.
