Al10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, ‘November 3, 1999 City sewage not source of well woes — ministry By JEFF NAGEL WELL contamination on Braun's Island is not com- ing from the city sewage treatment plant, environ- ment ministry officials say. The B.C, Environment letter to Braun’s Island residents is the most defi- nitive statement yet ab- solving the city of blame. Islanders have been con- vinced cily sewage is the source of contaminants be- cause well problems were discovered when flooding this summer triggered a spill of sewage at the ireatment plant. Even if sewage was en- tering (he ground water near the planl, says pollu- lion prevention | officer John Collison-Baker, the net flow of the ground wa- ter is toward the river and away from island wells, “There is no evidence that contamination from the Terrace sewage lagoon is reaching the wells on Braun's Island,” his letter concludes, Island wells HEALTH officials back up the theory city sewage has in no way affected Braun’s Island wells. “We've seen no evi- dence that the city has af- fected the wells on Braun's Island,” said envi- ronmental health officer Ron Craig, | He said the wells on the island are mostly old and inadequalely protected from contaminants. That they’re contaminated —- possibly well before the flood - is no surprise. “None of them are built to an acceptable Standard,” he said, noting private wells are unregu- lated. “We found a dead cat in one, a dead mouse in another. They lacked the basic protection from Surface water.” -Craig said islanders seem focussed on proving some source of city con- tamination, adding he’d instead recommend they look into hooking up to a safe water supply. Although residents don’t want to pay for a water system that would hook up -is high, Stew Christensen There’s no pattern of wells closest lo the treat- ment plant showing higher contamination than others, he added. And most conclusive, he added, the vast: majarity of wells on Braun’s [sland are showing no fecal colliform contamination whatsocver — the strongest evidence of all that cily sewage is not the culprit. are amess lo the city water supply, mayor Jack Talstra said that may be the most pro- ductive avenue to pursue to get safe drinking water on the island. He noted although the initial price for the system the numbers ha- ven’t yet been tweaked or a major push conducted for government grants to re- duce the cost to islanders. Although most of the 25 wells on the island have shown varying degrees of contamination rendering them unfit to drink, in al- mast all cases that’s been caused by what's called lotal colliform, rather than fecal colliform contamitia- lion. Fecal colliform readings signal the presence of hu- man or other warm-blood-__. ed animal feces, Total col- liform includes other non- fecal sources, like decay- ing vegetation. Only four well tests out of 110 conducted so far since this summer’s flood have shown any amount of fecal colliform, said city director of engineering Stew Christensen. The rest — 96 per cent of tests’ conducted = have come back with zero feeal colliform. measured, but often significant levels of total colliform. “[t tells me without a doubt it is not coming frorn our sewage -system,” Christensen told city coun- cil Oct. 12. “If the problem was coming from our sew- er plant, there would be fecal readings.” Talstra told residents the city will closely follow - any directives from the ministries of health and environment. “They have not said to us there’s a problem cam- ing from us,” he said. “And I can tell you if we do something wrong, they © jump on us.” David D. NOT a single issue candidate NOT using council as a provincial politics soap box NOT trying to promote personal interest projects NOT absent from meetings week after week NOT aftaid to work hard to make the right decisions IN FACT... NOT A BAD CHOICE On November 20th, Vote Hull, David D. 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