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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Fire Department may have some explaining to after spraying thousands of litres of firefighting foam near a community garden plot that leaked into soil and storm drains.

A fire department truck sprays foam - which looks similar to snow - over an area near Willow Flats. - photos courtesy of Dwayne Wohlgemuth Foam is seen bubbling up from a sewer grate on School Draw which is clearly marked as a no-dump zone.

On Oct. 13, firefighters tested the fire suppressant foam in a lot next door to the new Yellowknife Community Garden site in the Willow Flats area.

"The fire department was spraying it all over. There was three inches of foam. It looked like it had snowed there," said Yellowknife Community Garden co-chair Dwayne Wohlgemuth.

"The product was flooding part of the garden, so it was flowing on to the garden site where we had just freshly delivered soil," he added.

While fire chief Albert Headrick admitted the foam, dubbed Hi-Combat A, could be harmful if used in pure concentrate, he added the department had diluted the substance to 0.03 per cent.

"(It) is a biodegradable foam, non-toxic, non-harmful, environmentally friendly," he said.

"The fire departments in Canada, U.S. and industry use this because of that," he added.

When so diluted, the foam is basically akin to soap. While Wohlgemuth was relieved to hear the foam wasn't toxic, he added soap and soil still isn't an optimal mix.

"People don't intentionally put soap on their gardens for numerous reasons," he said.

"Just because something is biodegradable doesn't mean you should go spray it everywhere, because before it biodegrades, or while it biodegrades, it has an impact," he added.

Because the foam has a high bio-oxygen demand it sucks up plenty of oxygen as it biodegrades. Essentially, this means there is a possibility that water quality and aquatic life could be threatened if too much enters a body of water, such as Yellowknife Bay, which is across the street from the garden plot.

According to cleanup and disposal recommendations on the product's material safety data sheet (MSDS) the product should not be dumped near water. The sheet reads: "Do not discharge into biological sewer treatment systems without prior approval ... Do not flush into waterways. Disposal should be made in accordance with federal, state and local regulations."

Regulations are clear that nothing should be dumped into sewer grates – even soap.

According to the Fisheries Act, the deposit of "deleterious" substances into fish-frequented waters – or in any place that could enter such waters like storm drains or sewers – is prohibited.

While such harmful substances include obvious no-nos like gasoline and pesticides, they also include cleaning supplies like detergent. Fines for such dumping can run up to $300,000 for the first offence and $1 million or six months jail time for the second.

Likewise, the city water and sewer services bylaw states nobody can "discharge or deposit or cause or permit the discharge into a municipal sewer pipe, private sewer service pipe, or private sewage tank, matter of any type or at any temperature or in any quantity which may be or become a hazard to persons, animals or property."

The only exception to the rule is if the head city administrator, currently Max Hall, gives the permission. Hall refused to comment on whether such permission was given to the fire department.

Staff at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans declined to comment.

The territorial Department of Environment and Natural Resources did investigate. According to Judy McLinton, manager of communications with the department, the file is still open but the department is not contemplating any charges for now.

While Wohlgemuth is satisfied by the fire department's promise not to spray the foam on the site again and with their handling of his complaint, he said he wishes there was communication beforehand.

"It was a bit of a stressful time there, wondering why they were doing something like this right where it would flood the garden," he said.

"I'm surprised that they practised right there in the middle of the city with foam, that they didn't even put up a sign."