Field Trip - Ymir Treatment System

As part of my own little field-trip day, I visited the water treatment system at Ymir. This is a small community of 200+ people between Nelson and Salmo. It gets it's water from a surface supply (a stream west of town) and has a new treatment system operated by RDCK.

The Regional District took over Ymir's water system a few years ago, and installed a modern treatment system. I visited the plant with one of the RDCK's techs who was there to do some routine testing.

The plant pumps stream water through 3 large tanks that contain sand filters, then through a set of 5 micron and 1 micron cartridge filters, then through a set of parallel UV tubes and finally past a chlorine injector system. All system parameters are monitored in real time and the computer controlling this can be accessed by the techs from any of their computers.

Some pictures of the inside of the treatment plant are here.

RDCK has had, up to this fall, 16 water systems that they manage. After this fall/winter, they will be adding 3 more systems.

Conferring with Interior Health

Took part of the day Wednesday to go on a bit of a field trip. One objective was to see the water treatment at Ymir (see next post), and the second objective was to meet with Renee Ansell, Interior Health's Water Safety Officer.

The meeting in Nelson was quite productive; it was useful to discuss some of the issues we're looking at with our water system. We discussed how we might best consider a Cross Contamination Control Program (CCCP), where the most likely sources of contamination might be and what would be effective ways to deal with them.

We also talked briefly about a couple of possible maintenance issues and potential upgrades and what we would need to do before we start those projects.

It was also nice to hear that our water system is well-regarded in the way we operate our system. Always nice to know the regulator is happy with what we're doing.

Other Water Systems

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit and examine a small water system in a neighbourhood near ours. This system services approximately the same number of homes as ours and it attracted my attention because they had recently spent quite a sum of money improving the infrastructure that was in place there.

Basically, their project involved extending the intakes of their pumps well out into the lake and to a depth of around 100 ft (a requirement of Interior Health) as well as building a new control system, building and treatment process.

The main piping used was schedule 80 PVC and the treatment uses UV only with a turbidity meter. The cost of the improvements was in the neighbourhood of $150,000.

What this system still does not have is a decent reservoir for storage. I didn't see what was in place, but I was told that there were two small tanks with a combined capacity of around 10,000 gallons. Because of the single treatment process (UV), they had to install a turbidity meter and when the lake water does become too cloudy, they must issue a boil water advisory. The only way to avoid this would be to install a filtration system as well.

This system is community owned and it is my intention to visit a system recently taken over and renovated by the Regional District. More information to follow.

RDCK Concerned about New Water Regulations

[as reported in The Valley Voice, June 15, 2011].

Earlier in June, Interior Health's Medical Health Officer met with RDCK's Rural Affairs Committee. It appears that most of the discussion centered around drinking water, specifically the new water regulations and the pressure those regulations will put on small communities and small water systems.

If anyone wants to see the effect of these new regulations, one needs go no further than the South Slocan, where a very expensive system is now in place (rumored to have cost in excess of $1 million). Never mind that almost no-one there wanted the new system; they have it now and will be paying for it. In part, this happened because the South Slocan water system was to be taken over by RDCK. Pressure was applied by Interior Health on the Regional District to fix the system so it met the standards of the Drinking Water Protection Act. Against many objections, the work was done.

It might be worth pointing out that the new regulations require two methods of treatment. Our system, owned and operated by PRWUS, has that kind of arrangement, a filtration system down to 1 micron and a chlorination system. We also monitor chlorine levels on a daily basis and water samples are sent in regularly to be tested for the presence of bacteria and other pathogens. So, for the time being, our system meets the requirements set out in the new regulations under the Drinking Water Protection Act.

I think it's clear from this that the Government is prepared to insist that drinking water quality across the province be improved. It's simply not going to be good enough to argue that "we've drunk the water from that lake (river, bog, whatever) for years and never had a problem with it". It's also clear that the Government won't be paying for these improvements, where they are needed. Our view is that it's always good to stay ahead of these things and never get in the position of having to play catch-up with the whims of Governments. Like most things connected with Government, they usually cost you money.

Water Treatment - Some Comparisons

The Society occasionally gets questions about why we're using the water treatment system we do and why some other system might not be better or cheaper. In this post, I'm going to try and briefly outline the various options and how they compare.

It's first necessary to say that NOT treating our water is NOT an option. This would place our community under an immediate boil water order and expose residents and visitors to the risk of illness from water-borne pathogens and parasites. Kootenay Lake water might have been safe to drink untreated in the past, but it's not safe now. In fact, no surface water source can be assumed to be safe and when you're providing water to a community, you can't take the chance. Furthermore, as a water supplier, the Society is required by Provincial legislation to provide safe water. The required goal is something called the 43210 standard - more on that in another post. Treatment, in one form or another, is the only way to get those results.

There are essentially 2 treatment strategies: 1) centralized treatment, and 2) POE/POU treatment.

Centralized treatment is what our system uses now. All water pumped from the lake passes through this system and is stored in a reservoir for distribution. The big disadvantage to centralized treatment is that ALL water goes through this system, including water that is only being used to water the garden, wash the car and such. There is no easy or cheap solution to that problem. Our system uses filtration to 1 micron and chlorination. This is a process which has been proven safe, effective and cheap. There are other possible treatment processes, including UV, sand filters, charcoal beds and so on, but some of these are more suitable to larger municipal systems which are using large volumes of water. One concern with chlorination is the chlorine and chlorine byproducts remaining in the water we drink. Given the number of people world wide that also have chlorine in their water, this wouldn't seem to be an unknown problem, but if people have concerns, it can be dealt with at the tap with simple and cheap filters.

One additional advantage to using chlorine is that it protects against bacterial and fungal growth while the water is stored, for example, while it is sitting in a reservoir. This is a benefit that water treated with UV does not have.

From our standpoint, our centralized treatment system meets provincial quality standards, it's effective (we don't get bacteria in our water), it's cheap to operate (only a couple of hundred $$ each year), and that to fix or change anything we only have to go to ONE location, not each house on the system.

POE/POU stands for Point of Entry (where all water is treated as it enters each house) and Point of Use (where a filter might be attached to the cold water tap in the kitchen, for example). POE systems might include filtration (provincial regulations require filtration to 1 micron), UV, or some other process. POU systems generally would use some kind of filter at a specific tap but could also use reverse osmosis or distillation.

A community planning to use a POE system would need to have 100% of the residents approving and agreeing to use this system. There would need to be equipment installed at each house, the Water Society would need regular access to that equipment to service it and the equipment would be owned by the Society. The cost would depend on what process was used, but could be anywhere from $500 to several thousand $$ per house. Instead of having one service location, there would be 26 (with our community's size) and even if each system cost only $500, we'd be looking at $13,000 to install a system like this.

POU systems can be installed by anyone on any tap they want. Consumers could also have their own distillation or reverse osmosis system. Such systems alone would not be approved by Interior Health for a community water supply.

The bottom line for us is that we have a system that is working now, requires little maintenance to operate and is cheap and effective.

Comparative Water Rates

There was a notice in the August 17th, 2010 Pennywise from BC Hydro. The backstory to this notice is that BC Hydro has owned and operated the water system at West Robson (near Castlegar) for many years now, basically since the Keenlyside dam was built back in the 1960s. The operator (BC Hydro) is applying for approval for a water rates structure effective January 1st, 2010.

What's interesting at first glance is the rate structure they are asking for. The Residential Single Family annual rate will be $915/year. Reading some of the background information, I learned that $200 of that annual rate will be placed in a reserve fund for future repairs and replacements to the water system. Their system supplies somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 residences with the potential to supply more. They put a replacement value on their system of about $4.5 million.

The Society just received a letter from the Water Comptroller in Victoria reminding all water system operators that they need to be charging rates that will allow them to accumulate sufficient funds to handle future replacement costs. Looks like free water has disappeared in one more place. Certainly a sign of things to come.

Forecasts of a Dry Summer

The CBC Radio noon show (CBC Almanac) had a story on Monday about fears of a summer drought in many parts of BC.

Lower than average snow pack and little real rain so far this spring has the province and many municipalities and regional districts scrambling to bring in measures to conserve water. Some areas have already enacted water rationing.

There were also some brief comments about the cost of water and how to encourage water users to conserve, given that BC has the highest water use in the country. Mention was made of water meters, a practice that many local governments are starting to install. This will be an interesting story to follow this season.

Denver Siding Experiences Rate Shock

The Valley Voice - March 10, 2010 - Facing a operating deficit of over $8000, residents of Denver Siding agreed to a water rate increase. The move will raise rates from $250/year to $400. Even this won't completely solve the problem; that would take an increase in rates to around $540.

There are many problems this small water system is facing, aside from their money woes. The system doesn't meet current standards and is one of many systems on a Boil Water Advisory for years. They have about $50,000 in their reserve fund, but that can't be used for operating costs. Upgrades to the system, where that money could be used, might cost $300,000 or more.

This leaves Denver Siding residents considering the prospect of asking to join the Village of New Denver so they can connect to their water system. This would mean an increase in property taxes, because the rates in the Village are higher than in Denver Siding. Some residents are considering drilling their own wells, believing that the wells would achieve payback in 20 years. Of course, if you're running your own private system, you shoulder all the costs, deal with all the breakdowns and need to worry about where the water table is and how it might be affecting your water supply. And if the area joins with New Denver anyway..... No easy solutions here.

Not a happy situation.

And Now - A Word from Holmes

The Province - April 26, 2009 - In an article by Mike Holmes (Holmes on Homes), a number of ways of cutting down on water waste are discussed. And since water wasted is money wasted, his comments should be interesting to anyone who pays for the water they use.

The full article can be seen on our website.

Interior Health Flexing its Muscle

The Valley Voice, Feb 25, 2009 - IHA has issued an order to the RDCK to treat and disinfect domestic water delivered to South Slocan water users. The work must be completed within a year and the users will have to pay for the work. Readers will recall that users of this system turned down an earlier plan to improve the system, one which would have cost users about $600/year. This order by IHA will force RDCK to borrow the funds needed, almost certainly resulting in far greater costs than the original plan.

BC Water Quality Makes the News

"BC has far too many boil water edicts: Ombudsman". In a recently released report, BC's Ombudsman criticizes the slow pace of improvements in the regulation of safe drinking water standards in this province. Read the full story in The Province and The Canadian Press.

Small Water Users Association

The most recent newsletter of the SWUA (of which PRWUS is a member) will be available on their website later in July. In the meantime, you can read their reflections on the past 5 years as an association and the results of their member survey in this MS Word file. Some of the comments in the newsletter are particularly interesting given the recent Ombudsman's report.

Kootenay Water in the News

The Valley Voice - June 5, 2008 - South Slocan moving closer towards water system upgrades". This system of 66 connections has been living with a boil water advisory for 16 years. Changes now in progress may see that advisory lifted. It won't be cheap, though. The system, owned now by RDCK, needs over $400,000 of capital investment, about 25% of which will be borrowed. Users may have to pay around $600/year for their water, double what they pay now. When completed, their system will have a new water mainline, a new treatment system (chlorination and UV), a new reservoir, a new hydrant system and a booster pump station to raise line pressure for several houses. This is essentially what PRWUS members have had in place for several years and the reason why we haven't had a boil water advisory in that time.

Kootenay Water Quality Questioned....Again

The Valley Voice - May 8, 2008 - "Interior Health speaks to RDCK about new water regulations". Concerns about the availability for safe drinking water have finally made it to the Kootenays in the form of the new Drinking Water Protection Act. The latest statistics show there are 72 Boil Water Advisories in Kootenay/Boundary, 50-60% of the region's water users are on surface water systems and most systems in the region use no water treatment or only one treatment system. It was also noted that many people get their water from Kootenay Lake, a body of water into which more and more septic system effluent is ending up in the Lake and where the is more boat traffic. Some of that traffic is discharging waste water into the Lake.

RDCK Lifts Moratorium

The Valley Voice - May 8, 2008 - "RDCK Votes in water and sewer acquisition policy". Residents will know that RDCK has had a moratorium on taking over community water and sewer systems. Late in April, the Regional District started a process that will eventually lift that moratorium. Details are still to come, but basically RDCK would take over ownership of the system and all assets for $1. Users of the system would have to agree to pay the rates established by the engineering report.