The District of Houston’s water quality meets or exceeds Canadian Drinking Water Quality standards, an annual report on the system prepared by Craig Close, the District’s senior water/sewer operator, indicates.
Lab analysis rates water hardness as high and there is a high manganese level but after filtration, the level is reduced well below a recommended aesthetic level objective, he wrote.
Water quality testing is done via three samples taken weekly and submitted to the Northern Health Authorityfor testing of coliform and E. Coli.
“In 2018, 162 samples were collected. Zero samples contained Total Coliformm and zero samples contained E. Coli,” Close wrote.
The District serves 1,136 residential customers, 113 commercial ones, 41 industrial ones and 27 public/institutional ones.
In 2018 the total volume of water pumped was 512.518 million litres with Aug. 14 being the maximum daily demand at 2.494 million litres and Dec. 28 having the lowest demand at 896,000 litres.
Recent improvements have featured a new 2.2 million litre reservoir completed in 2017 on Mountainview Drive which provides storage for firefighting demand and system pressure stabilization.
Close also provided a future projects list for council which is incorported into its strategic asset improvements plan.
Topping that list is decommissioning Well No. 2 “due to its age, low pumping capacity and increasing maintenance costs [as it[ is reaching the end of its service life,” Close wrote.
Plans are to decommission and drill a replacement well of modern design standards and higher capacity near Well No. 1 to act as a backup.
Older cement water lines dating back to the late 1960s will be assessed and replaced, starting in the downtown core, as they have reached the end of their expected life.
A bulk water dispensing station is also planned and an engineering firm will complete an emergency response plan for the water system.
