WATER NEWS
Boil water advisory issued for White Rock & part of South Surrey
August 21st, 2010Residents of White Rock, BC are being told to boil their water after tests detected a low level of coliform bacteria in the city's water supply. The Fraser Health Authority's David ... More »
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Vancouver Water
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Boil water advisory issued for White Rock & part of South Surrey
Saturday, August 21st, 2010Residents of White Rock, BC are being told to boil their water after tests detected a low level of coliform bacteria in the city’s water supply.
The Fraser Health Authority’s David Plug says the boil advisory also covers about 80 homes in neighbouring South Surrey, “I believe the street numbers are 136 to 148. This is a precaution. Routine tests found that there was a small amount of contamination at one of the wells that is used by the water system. It’s just standard practice in that case to flush the system and chlorinate it. There have been no reports of anyone being sick from this.”
Affected residents are urged to boil their water for one minute prior to drinking, brushing teeth or washing food.
Plug says the advisory could last one week, “Although it could end sooner, it all depends on how quickly we get a series of test results back that are clear.”
Members of the public who have general questions are advised to call EPCOR at 604-536-6112.
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Water & Oil
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010Why is it that the appalling BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has moved us to horrified concern while an ongoing environmental catastrophe of equal consequence, happening in our own back yard, fails to inspire similarly charged emotions and contemplation of our actions as a species?
The Alberta Tar Sands are one gigantic slow motion oil spill, the MOST destructive project on Earth. It seems that because this deliberately perpetrated disaster (which is fuelling the US and Asia while causing cancer and death in Canada) is not a dramatic accident, we allow it to continue almost unnoticed.
Let’s connect the dots.
- A pipeline (Kinder Morgan) currently transports 300,000 barrels of crude oil from Alberta to a port in Burnaby each day.
- The number of ships carrying crude oil out of Port Metro Vancouver has increased by 77% over the last year.
- Oceanographer, Peter Baker, warns there is little room in Vancouver’s port for manoeuvring these huge ships whose draft is so great that they have to enter and exit the harbour on high tide. A spill would spread outward on the tide and become unmanageable.
- Pipelines proposed for carrying oil from Alberta to a port in Kitimat for foreign export would endanger 1000 BC streams and rivers with spills and leaks that are impossible to contain or to clean up.
- These pipelines would increase tanker traffic by 220 tankers per year in BC’s sensitive coastal waters.
- The Harper government has re-written legislation to potentially enable oil drilling off the coast of British Columbia, doubling the risk to our ocean and shorelines.
What kind of culture are we that we numbly observe this organized destruction?
How have our values and intelligence become so degraded that we do not recognize and reverse the unnecessary consequences of this behaviour and the power brokers that mastermind it?
What will it take to prompt us to step up to our role as CREATORS of a healthy and happy world? -
Vancouver’s New ‘Bluer’ Water
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010Metro Vancouver’s new Seymour Filtration Plant became fully operational in January 2010. Its launch marks phase one of a mammoth $800 million project slated for completion in 2013.
The filtration process removes turbidity (fine dirt) making larger volumes of water appear ‘bluer’. The process also reduces the amount of chlorine initially introduced into the water supply.
Water from the new filtration plant is temporarily being supplied to most parts of Metro Vancouver. This will change later this spring when unfiltered water from the Capilano reservoir (which has been temporarily closed) will once again supply Vancouver, Richmond, western Burnaby and western North Vancouver.
The still-to-be-completed phase of this huge project (Seymour-Capilano Filtration Project) will link the Capilano reservoir to the Seymour Filtration Plant via twin tunnels that are currently being bored through the mountain on the North shore.
Metro Vancouver’s water supply comes from three protected mountain reservoirs – Capilano, Seymour & Coquitlam.
- Seymour reservoir typically supplies eastern Burnaby, South Surrey and western New Westminster.
- Capilano normally supplies western North Vancouver, Vancouver, Richmond and western Burnaby.
- Coquitlam reservoir supplies Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Langley, eastern New Westminster and Coquitlam. Its water is treated with ozone and chlorine and is not part of the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Project.
Because these mountain reservoirs are located above human centres of activity, gravity is the natural and most cost effective means to shunt water downhill to our municipalities. However, if water supply or quality is compromised in one reservoir, cross-pumping can transport water from any reservoir to any part of the system. For example, currently (May 1, 2010) the Capilano reservoir is closed and its regular recipients are being temporarily supplied by Seymour.
The new Seymour Filtration Plant uses a process called coagulation and flocculation to separate out sediment before chlorinating the water and sending it into the distribution network. When completed in 2013, the project will also incorporate a massive ultra-violet treatment process which will lessen, but not eliminate, the use of chlorine.
Improved filtration reduces the initial amount of chlorine introduced into the water. However, there are ‘booster’ stations located around the city that re-introduce chlorine en route to your tap. The purpose of this secondary chlorination is to maintain a lingering disinfectant action (called chlorine ‘residual’) in water as it travels through the distribution system. Proximity to one of these booster stations may result in stronger chlorine taste and odour in tap water at one location over another.
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Pink stuff in your bathroom?
Monday, April 26th, 2010In case you’re plagued with ‘pink stuff’ in your bathroom… It’s called Serratia –a common airborne bacteria often found on the interface between water and air. Shower curtains, toilet bowl waterlines and pet dishes are some of its favourite places. It can be annoyingly persistent, even for the best of housekeepers. Regular cleaning is the recommended solution.
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Turbidity, Chlorine Levels & the New Seymour Filtration Plant
Thursday, February 11th, 2010Metro Vancouver announced last month (January 2010) that the newly completed Seymour Filtration Plant is now fully operational and delivering filtered water to most of Vancouver and Richmond. The purpose of the new facility is to reduce the presence of turbidity (fine sediment), control disinfectant in our water and corrosion in the infrastructure of our water supply.
Turbidity
Turbidity – cloudy water – is not a contaminant per se; however it can mask the presence of disease-causing micro-organisms. By filtering the water, the presence of these organisms can be controlled thus reducing the amount of chlorine needed to disinfect our tap water.
Turbidity is created when fine particles like sediment or organic matter wind up in the reservoirs through heavy rainfall. Other causes of turbidity can be construction, system operational changes, high water flows due to a fire or flusher truck filling, or high flows due to hot weather.
Turbidity is measured in units called nephelometric turbidity units (NTUs). Daily turbdity readings are posted on Metro Vancouver’s site for all 3 reservoirs supplying Metro Vancouver – Capliano, Seymour and Coquitlam.
Coquitlam Reservoir Treated Separately
Current readings (mid-February 2010) indicate that Capilano is closed (due to excessive turbidity) and that Seymour’s turbidity levels are dramatically reduced (due to the new filtration plant) compared to the Coquitlam reservoir – which is not part of the new Semour/Capilano filtration project. Water from the Coquitlam reservoir will remain unfiltered but is treated with ozone and ultra-violet light before being chlorinated.
Seymour/Capilano Fitration Plant – Phase 2
The launch of the Seymour Filtration Plant represents the debut of the first phase of the larger Seymour/Capilano Filtration Plant which is now scheduled for completion in 2013. The Seymour and Capilano Reservoirs will be joined by 7km twin tunnels that are currently being bored through the North Shore mountains!!
The objective is to filter water from both reservoirs at one plant and shunt the water back to its original mountain reservoir for gravity fed distribution to municipal locations. The yet unfiltered Capilano reservoir is currently not in use due to excessive turbidity.
The new Seymour plant is presently supplying both Seymour and Capilano destinations. This water is currently averaging around pH 7.4.
Boosting Chlorine Levels
Chlorine is introduced into the water as a disinfectant before leaving all three locations – Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam treatment facilities. This is called ‘primary treatment’.
As water flows through the distribution system, the chlorine introduced during the primary treatment stage gradually breaks down. ‘Secondary treatment’ sites introduce more chlorine to prevent bacterial regrowth as water travels to homes, businesses, and industries. Ozone cannot be used as a secondary disinfectant because it breaks down too quickly. UV treatment also is not an option, since it leaves no residual disinfectant in the water.