Protection needed for vulnerable drinking water
Groundwater supplying the homes of 77,000 Niagara residents is highly vulnerable to contamination.
And even water supplying regional treatment plants isn’t necessarily safe, elected officials heard this week.
Jayme Campbell, a special projects supervisor for Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, was at a Niagara Region health committee meeting Tuesday to discuss the vulnerability of Niagara’s drinking water, as part of a Drinking Water Source Protection Act study contracted by the Ministry of Environment.
The threats and vulnerabilities identified within Campbell’s report are part of an effort to update the Region’s source water protection plan by 2020.
Campbell said even the hundreds of natural gas wells throughout Niagara, many lined with corroded metal or wood casings, can have an impact on groundwater quality. Although unused wells must now be filled in, “that was not the practice historically,” he said.
It can give well water a “rotten eggs” odour, denoting contamination by hydrogen sulfide — a poisonous and corrosive gas.
“Tackling this will require multiple agencies working together,” he said.
Campbell said Niagara has numerous hydrogeological sensitive areas, with very little sediment to filter contaminants.
“So what happens on the land very quickly gets into the aquifers,” Campbell said.
He said it’s led to elevated risks of E. coli contamination, and while minimum building codes do not sufficiently protect well water from sewage infiltration.
In addition to groundwater, Campbell said Niagara’s municipal water treatment plant intakes could also face threats, such as climate change and lake water contamination.
Campbell, who also shared his report with representatives of Niagara’s public works committee Tuesday morning, said Port Colborne’s water treatment plant “is the most vulnerable,” affected by phosphorus and algae in Lake Erie as well as climate change. But there maybe room for improvement to better protect each of Niagara’s water intakes.
Campbell said an oil pipeline runs from east to west across the region, and crosses the Niagara River close to the water intake for the Niagara Falls treatment plant.
“In theory, if that oil pipeline leaked we’d have two hours before it’d get into Niagara Falls’ intake,” he said. “I’m not saying there are concerns. This is something to consider.”
He said other jurisdictions have water source protection regarding pipelines, and “we’d like to take a look and say do we need to have some as well.”
Campbell said the intake serving Niagara Falls, near the mouth of the Welland River, could also be impacted by the potential changing flow of water in the river.
The Welland River currently flows backwards to dredging that was done for hydro operations, but Ontario Power Generation is planning to shut down the dredged portion of the water way which would allow the Welland River’s natural flow to resume.
“That water quality isn’t so good,” Campbell said, referring to the murky water of the Welland River. “We don’t want that going into Niagara Falls water treatment plant.”
St. Catharines Coun. Brian Heit is concerned about radioactive materials and other extremely hazardous substances being transported through Niagara.
“Within two hours, the water can be contaminated. We have trucks driving the QEW, thousands of them a day that are carrying all kinds of materials. It could be just gas and oil or whatever that could create a problem for us,” he said, adding emergency personnel should be aware of the threats.
“That concerns me. We have to have everyone working as a team and that everyone knows those hot spots,” Heit said.
Campbell said local emergency personnel seem to be focusing more attention on source water protection, recalling several related training exercises.
“This is on the forefront,” he said.
Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn asked if by identifying vulnerabilities within the system, the initiative also increases the risk of sabotage.
While Campbell said that exceeds his expertise as an engineer, the information is already available.
“If you wanted to find it, you don’t need to look for a sign on the road,” he said, referring to signs posted near source water areas.
“If someone had bad plans of doing things, it’s already out there.”