Glyphosate will not be sprayed near Greater Moncton's water supply this year

The provincial government did not issue a permit to spray the controversial herbicide glyphosate this year near the Turtle Creek Watershed, the water source for greater Moncton.

The decision comes after an outcry from Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold last August.

'Well, I'm pretty excited," Arnold said after learning the news over the weekend.

The mayor has been pushing the province to disallow spraying near the reservoir, which provides drinking water to 100,000 residents in Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

Arnold said the city learned in late August 2017 that J.D. Irving Ltd. would be using glyphosate near the watershed, located 10 kilometres southwest of Moncton.

"Everybody was understandably extremely upset about that so immediately we worked with the province," Arnold told CBC News.

A working group of representatives from the three municipalities and provincial officials was struck later that fall to study the situation.

Arnold said the city learned Saturday the province did not issue a permit this year.

Treatment not required

Government spokesperson Shawn Berry said the spray was not necessary.

"As is done on all Crown lands, an assessment of the requirements was undertaken earlier this summer," Berry said in an email Tuesday. "The assessment determined planted stands in the area did not require treatment this year."

Arnold credited the province for taking action, adding the city wants to reduce risks in the watershed area.

"Ultimately, what we'd like to do is mitigate all risk and ensure that long term, this area is protected and that nothing of any risk is done in that area," she said.

"But at least we know there will be no spraying this year."

The New Brunswick forest industry uses glyphosate to kill maple, oak and other hardwood growth, and NB Power uses it to kill hardwood growth near transmission lines.

Glyphosate was listed as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, in 2015.

Health Canada re-evaluated its stance on the sale and use of the herbicide in 2017, but the government maintained the position that glyphosate is unlikely to pose a cancer risk to humans and exposure to food and drinking water is "not expected to pose a risk of concern to human health" provided label instructions are followed.