Editor:
Back in August 2010, White Rock experienced its first boil-water advisory – due to contamination of one of its water sources – which resulted in residents being informed all would receive chlorinated water to ensure the supply would be free from incidents of this nature.
Private water utility Epcor stated last March that one of its objectives was: “The disinfection of the water supply at source and maintenance of disinfectant residual throughout the reservoirs and distribution system to each customer connection.”
I live on Stevens Street and am one of several hundred people receiving chlorinated water, which now taints my water noticeably when I use it for tea or coffee.
However, I was not aware until quite recently that a significant area of White Rock remains with a water supply untreated with chlorine. This certainly was a surprise to me, as it throws into question the integrity of the decision to ensure that following the contamination all water would be chlorinated at source, especially as this was cited conclusively as an issue of public safety.
It would therefore appear that only some residents are afforded this apparent protection of health and safety.
I, for one, was not convinced that this one incident – in many years of a fault-free system – warranted a complete chlorination of the network, as I felt the natural water filtration was a benefit to health and safety and had at that point been proven to be as safe as any chlorinated water system. I am rather less sure that the decision to go ‘chlorine’ was necessary and in the interest of public safety, when it was only the Merklin reservoir that was found to have been compromised with a hole in the membrane which, once repaired properly, gave complete protection from further contamination.
It has, after all, been faultless through the years when White Rock Utilities had control of the service.
If indeed the safety of all residents is at the heart of this decision, can we at least hear from Epcor as to when everyone will be receiving chlorinated water?
Until that time, it would appear that a two-tier system exists, which doesn’t seem to make much sense.
Michael King, White Rock
Editor’s note: EPCOR’s chlorine feed covers the high east zone and, during high-demand periods, the low zone too. EPCOR awaits regulatory approval for its Total Water Quality Management Plan to chlorinate the entire system.
