Water woes

Lewisporte - Don't drink the water!

That was the resounding message that spread through Lewisporte last Thursday evening with more questions than answers accompanying it.

Word that the town's water had a non-consumption order on it sent residents scrabbling to find drinking water at local stores or from area wells.

By noon on Friday the order had been lifted again. According to town manager Perry Pond the problem wasn't with the municipal water supply but rather with one of the chemicals used to treat the water.

"We use gas chlorination as a disinfectant, we use it at our main pump house at the pond," explained Mr. Pond.

The chemicals in question are not used at the Town's main pump house but they are used at the booster station located at the corner of Pond Road and Sunset Boulevard. At this site they install a liquid chlorine injector which helps keep the water at safe levels for consumption in uptown areas.

"It is the liquid chlorine that we use in that system that the company determined had an additive that shouldn't have been in it," explained the town manager.

The manufacturers of chlorine also make Javex and bleaches and one of the additives that gives these products their scent got added to the chlorine.

"Once Central Health identified this additive they took a precautionary measure and issued a non-consumption advisory," explained Mr. Pond. "We didn't know at that point what it was all about so we just acted on their recommendation and we issued a non-consumption water advisory.

"However this morning (Feb. 1) they gave us some precautionary measures and some procedures in terms of flushing to make sure it was out of the system."

Mr. Pond said they were also advised that since the water was still chlorinated through the main system, once the lines were flushed the advisory could be lifted.

The remainder of the contaminated product has been returned to the supplier and will be replaced.

"There is nothing wrong with our water, this is totally a third party involvement," explained Mr. Pond. "The problem was with their product, not what we were doing or should have been doing with our water. It was their product, which we have been using for the last five or six years since the booster station was installed."

Several days

Mr. Pond said these chemicals had been in the water for several days before any problem was detected. He said it was likely that the problem might have gone unnoticed except that at one of the other communities affected, a smell was detected in the water. Closer investigation revealed that a particular batch of chlorine had been contaminated and other communities with product from that batch were immediately contacted.

Mr. Pond said these communities were using far greater strengths of the chemical that was being used at the booster station in Lewisporte.

He said that from this point on there shouldn't be any problem with the water.

As of Feb. 1, the number of communities affected was at six (including Lewisporte), by Monday that number had increased to 11. Other communities who also received the contaminated chemicals included Cupids, Gander Bay South, Harbour Main, Normans Cove Long Cove, Port Au Port West, Rushoon, Terrenceville, Tizzards Harbour, Wabana, and Whiteway.