Test method may have
caused boil water alert

Report points to kitchen faucet attachments

By JENNIFER LANG
PUBLIC HEALTH offi-
cials testing non-chlorina-
ted drinking water for signs
of contamination should
remove tap attachments
first, an engineering report
has recommended.

‘The Northern Health
Authority. ordered an in-
-westigation into Woodland
Water. Utilities after issu-

ing boil water advisories
‘that were ini place for sev-

eral weeks last summer.
The company operates

a private waler system that
serves about 550 homes in

Thornhill.

Just over a year ago,

. énvironmental health offi-

cials found fecal coliforms
in the water supply.

“The company had tem-
porarily: switched to sour-
ces. containing ground
water when the pump at its
deep source well broke

.down in June 2002.

~The advisory was re-is-
sued after some additional
water samples taken by

NHA | officials showed

signs of contamination.

_A final report by. McEl-
~hanney Consulting Ser-

vices Ltd, recommends the

NHA change the methods

it uses to test water quality

on non- chlorinated SyS-
“tems:

The report says the me-

thods used by public

_ health officials to take

samples made it more dif-

“ficult: ‘to determine the

cause of contamination —
‘if'any,
The report says the
-NHA and home owners
‘took. samples without re-
moving. tap attachments
~ first, even though that’s an
“international ly-rec ognized
sampling procedure.

All of the positive sam-
ples were obtained follow-
ing the NHA’s procedure
by NHA officials or home-
owners, the report says.

One theory: offered. by.
the NHA last “Simmer was *

. that pockets of contamina-
‘tion remained in the sys-
“tem, despite several at-
tempts to flush and disin-
fect. the water supply.

-A second recommenda-
tion -says further study is
needed to determine if
non-chlorinated water can

_ be contaminated from fau-
. cet altachments, because
“it’s potentially a signif-

icant public health issue,

the report states.

Kitchen sinks contain
high levels of bacteria.
Contamination from raw
meat can spread to the

UNCHLORINATED water can be contaminated by
kitchen faucet screens or attachments.

faucet and grow due to the
warm, moist condition, it
continues.

Chlorinated water sys-
tems like the one in Ter-
race would have enough
residual chlorine to disin-
fect the taps.

Systems supplied by a
deep well are not required
to add chlorine or resort to
other treatments because
the waler tests pure.

Other recommendations
include a significantly ex-
panded emergency re-
sponse plan and record-
keeping, in addition to de-
veloping a backup water
supply now that the com-
pany has disconnected sur-
face. water sources.

Environmental Health
Officer Russell Seltenrich
said the NHA will review
the report and discuss the
findings with the utility
company.

There are a number of
other recommendations in
the report, which belongs
to the utility company, he

added.

New drinking water re-
gulations have come into
effect since the episode,
he added,

Authorities are now re-
quired to submit more data
along with water samples
when they're sent ta labor-
atories, for example.

Company official
Donna Ziegler said Wood-
land Water Utility's sam-
ples were always taken
from bare taps; screens
and aerator attachments
were always removed first
to ensure samples weren’l
contaminated by kitchen
bacteria.

She reminds all resi-
dents on non chlorinated
water systems routinely
clean and disinfect their
taps, particularly those in
their kitchens, to avoid
cross contamination.

Every week to 10 days,
screens and acrators
should be removed,
cleaned and washed with
bleach to kill bacteria.

and. S

only |

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