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• Free report – Facts about Greater Vancouver’s Drinking Water

  Thursday, November 8th, 2007

  The Quality of Vancouver’s Water is Heads Above the Rest, but is it Safe?

  Here in Vancouver, we are fortunate to have our water sourced from untouched snowmelt and rain runoff. In most other parts of North America, drinking water sources contain pesticides, herbicides, fluoride, industrial solvents, pharmaceuticals and personal care products.

  In Greater Vancouver, our water is collected in three huge protected watersheds: the Capilano, Seymour and Coquitlam reservoirs. The Greater Vancouver Regional District manages these reservoirs, treats the water and then delivers it to our local municipalities.

  If our water comes from such an enviable source, how could it possibly threaten your health with cancer, heart disease, asthma, miscarriage, birth defects, and DNA damage?

  A Closer Look

  The Truth about Chlorine

  All municipalities add some form of chlorine to their water supply because it effectively kills harmful microbiological organisms. Nearly 80,000 tons of chlorine is used to treat water in Canada and the US every year. The trouble is that chlorine also poisons the living tissues of your body.

  Chlorine is a known carcinogen. Cancer is at epidemic levels; other disorders such as heart disease, reproductive and respiratory problems are affecting an increasing number of Canadians. Studies are finding that one of the contributing culprits can be found in our daily consumption of our most basic necessity — water.

  Health Canada makes it clear that our drinking water must be chlorinated (or otherwise disinfected) whether or not this process introduces cancer-causing compounds into our water. The amount of chlorine or disinfectant added to our water must be sufficient to destroy bacteria and viruses.

  Chlorine, Disinfectant By-Products and Cancer

  The use of chlorine results in a less well-known but equally dangerous phenomenon called disinfectant by-products, which are known to cause cancer. They are formed when chlorinated water (and ozonated water) comes in contact with organic matter like leaves. The formation of these compounds is particularly likely to occur when the source of water is surface water such as our mountainous watersheds here in the Vancouver area.

  Disinfectant by-products are volatile gases. These dangerous compounds trigger the production of free radicals in the body causing cell damage. In addition to being known carcinogens, they can cause reproductive problems and mutations by altering DNA. They also suppress immune system function.

  Although all levels of government acknowledge concern about disinfectant by-products, Health Canada’s position clearly states:

  “Although the use of chlorine can lead to the formation of disinfectant by-products such as THMs (Trihalomethanes), efforts to manage THM levels must not compromise the effectiveness of water disinfection”.*
  * Trihalomethanes in Drinking Water prepared by Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Drinking Water

  Harmful at Any Level of Exposure

  Health Canada has established a ‘maximum acceptable concentration’ for Trihalomethanes (THMs). This standard has been under review because of growing concern that Canadian guidelines underestimate the need to protect us from the dangers of these compounds. Low levels of concentration of these carcinogenic compounds are being identified as the triggers for many cancers.

  There are no regulations set in Canada yet for Haloacetic Acids (HAAs). US standards (which may be inadequate) are currently being used as a guideline in Canada. HAA concentrations in our Greater Vancouver area water often exceed these standards.

  Because it can take 20 to 30 years for some disease conditions to show up, it is easy to ignore the consequences of toxic exposure until it’s too late.

  Turbidity Compounds the Problem

  A key factor in Greater Vancouver’s water conditions that compounds our local situation is a condition called turbidity.

  Turbidity is the presence of very fine suspended matter in water. Our water comes from open reservoirs, which are subject to sediment entering them especially during the heavy rains of fall and winter.

  Our reservoirs are sometimes shut down for extended periods of time due to microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses that “hide” amongst the particles found in turbid water, making it too difficult to deliver safe water.

  During periods of high turbidity, increased concentrations of chlorine are added to the treatment process of our water to ensure adequate protection against water-borne pathogens.

  Showering in Chemicals

  Disinfectant by-products may increase in concentration as chlorinated water moves through the distribution system to your home and during storage in your hot water tank. These are highly volatile gases.

  Chlorine and disinfectant by-products vaporize faster than water. When you shower, the hot steam you are inhaling has a higher than normal concentration of these compounds which are also absorbed by the pores of your skin, opened by the warm water.

  Concerns about Lead and Acidic Water

  Water in Greater Vancouver is naturally acidic. Acidic water has a corrosive tendency that can leach lead and copper into our water from pipes and plumbing fixtures. Buildings and plumbing fixtures that pre-date 1989 are especially likely to leach lead into water.

  Even low levels of lead are dangerous, especially for infants and children. Learning disorders, hyperactivity, drop in IQ, kidney, liver and nervous disorders are some of the symptoms of lead exposure.

  What is the Solution?

  The Greater Vancouver Regional District is currently constructing a new filtration plant that is due to be completed by 2009. This new treatment facility will improve our water quality by removing turbidity and microorganisms. It will reduce the level of disinfectant by-products because the addition of filtration will remove many of the organic materials (like leaves) in the source water that react with chlorine causing disinfectant by-products.

  Substantial improvements are also expected in protection against Cryptosporidium and Giardia, which are parasites that are carried by wildlife that live in the watershed areas on the North Shore and therefore appear in our water supply. When these cysts (eggs) are ingested the symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal cramps.

  Our water supply is tested regularly for the presence of these organisms, but the testing is imprecise. Chlorine can inactivate Giardia but is not effective against Cryptosporidium.

  Although the quantities of hazardous chemicals should be greatly reduced, it appears that the use of chlorine in our water is here to stay.

  It is imperative to make sure that the filtration system you use is designed to reduce all the known contaminants found in your local water supply.

  The Solution—Appropriate Filtration in Your Home

  The best way to get safe water is to produce it in your own home. A point of use filtration device is the most economical way to have unlimited amounts of safe, chemical free water.

  For more detailed information see www.yourwatermatters.com

  Posted in Reports

• Nature’s Engineering is Simply Quiet

  Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

  As humanity appears to be catapulting itself toward catastrophe and extinction, a heightened sensitivity to the interconnectedness of all life on planet Earth is emerging. The carbon based technologies that we have developed to master our environment have created a Frankenstein in the form of global warming that is burgeoning beyond our control.

  Nature will prove to be more powerful than man. It is not the planet that is in danger of extinction. Life will survive on planet Earth; life with or without humans, and a lot of other species we are bringing down with us, is the question.

  Nature’s engineering is quietly creative and supportive of life systems. Instead of emulating these qualities, the dominant human technologies have employed means and devices that are depleting and consumptively forceful.

  Attention is now turning to alternative technologies, many of which have been known for a long time but have been shunted aside or deliberately overshadowed in favour of established science and powerful economic forces. These unconventional approaches are often simple, quiet and even invisible yet more powerful than the noisy, heat-generating and frictional systems that have been fostered by mainstream science and industry.

  Viktor Schauberger and Nikola Tesla are two outstanding examples of inventors who were deeply attuned to nature’s principles and who bequeathed us with remarkable technologies which, hopefully, we are now more ready to embrace.

  This section will be developed to broadcast some remarkable, alternative solutions that involve water.

  It will also enquire into the very nature of water, synonymous with life itself.

  Posted in Energizing Water

• The Future of Water

  Saturday, August 25th, 2007

  This section will be developed to address global and regional developments concerning water.
  Topics will include

  • Water on planet earth – a global overview
  • The hydrological cycle
  • Floods and drought
  • Water scarcity and water stress
  • Privatization of water
  • BC water legislation
  • BC’s stolen rivers
  • Sea water and desalination
  • Water conservation

  Posted in The Future of Water

• Kudos for Metro Vancouver’s Water Quality

  Monday, June 4th, 2007

  Despite occasional boil water advisories and dramatic turbidity events Metro Vancouver and our local municipal water works deserve our appreciation. Safe drinking water is something that we have taken for granted. Yet the maintenance of a safe drinking water system is increasingly expensive, challenging and complex.

  Water System Fiascos

  Water related challenges are confronting virtually every community around the world. Growing populations, climate changes, new contaminants and century-old waterworks demand new and improved water systems. An alarmingly high number of cities in North America are not able to respond to these demands. Many of these cities cannot finance needed improvements and are turning their water systems over to huge European based corporations to manage their water quality. New Orleans, Atlanta, Georgia and Stockton, California are just a few examples. The results have been disastrous.

  In light of this trend, it is particularly important for the residents of Metro Vancouver to appreciate and support our exceptional local water quality. Enviable steps are being taken by Metro Vancouver and our local municipalities to maintain and improve our water delivery infrastructures.

  While a growing number of North American municipalities are facing disastrous consequences because they cannot keep up with the expenses involved in maintaining aging water treatment systems, Metro Vancouver and our local municipalities are successfully maintaining a publicly funded water supply that is superior to most water systems anywhere in North America and the world.

  New Water Filtration Project Bringing Better Water Quality

  Yes, there are challenges. Yet look at the steps that are being taken. Our new $600 million Seymour/Capilano water filtration plant is under construction. This massive upgrade to our water treatment system is a strategic step toward maintaining a sustainable and equitable supply of high quality drinking water to our communities.

  Our present and future water quality is actively protected by routine monitoring of our drinking water quality, the water mains flushing program, and thorough emergency response plans. It is important that the residents of Metro Vancouver value and support these measures.

  Turbidity Events and Boil Water Advisories Soon to be History

  Even during the height of the November 2006 turbidity events, contrary to media suggestion, the microbiological quality of Greater Vancouver’s drinking water was not compromised. Although the turbid water was not appealing, it was still safe to consume. Careful monitoring detected no fecal coliform or e-coli. Turbidity in itself is not a contaminant.

  Metro Vancouver turbidity readings are posted daily.

  When our new Water Filtration Project is complete it is anticipated that episodes of elevated turbidity levels and boil water advisories will be eliminated.

  Metro Vancouver’s Drinking Water Quality has Multiple Safeguards

  Our drinking water comes from wilderness watersheds to which access is restricted. This protected water source is one of our greatest luxuries in Metro Vancouver. Let’s not take it for granted. Most cities get their water from sources heavily exposed to pollutants from agriculture, industry or human habitat.

  Our source waters are monitored by Metro Vancouver’s Water District for turbidity, pH, micro organisms (bacteria, giardia and cryptosporidium), volatile organic compounds, disinfection by-products, herbicides, pesticides, radioisotopes, and metals.

  The water is then delivered to 18 member municipalities who maintain the distribution system to our homes and businesses. Each municipality has testing stations to monitor temperature, pH, turbidity, chlorine residuals, micro organisms (bacteria, including e-coli), disinfection by-products, and metals. For example, Vancouver has 52 of these sampling stations that test the physical and chemical properties of the water on a regular basis. You can see monthly online test results for your area (if you live in the City of Vancouver).

  Microbiological samples are collected at each testing site and submitted to the BC Centre for Disease Control for analysis. This is the testing for bacteria and viruses. Drinking water samples are collected 4 days per week throughout the year.

  If you compare drinking water stewardship programs around the world, the residents of Metro Vancouver are in an enviable position. We have great water. Let’s love it, locally.

  Posted in Vancouver Water

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