ARSENIC FEARS DIVIDE CITY
White Rock mayor insists drinking water is safe despite critics’ concerns
White Rock’s drinking water has been tapped for secondary treatment ever since pigeon doo-doo was found six years ago — and worries persist about low levels of arsenic.
Mayor Wayne Baldwin admitted the “fear quotient is quite high” and blamed a group of people “quite opposed” to council.
“There are no health concerns whatsoever at this time. I drink the water and so do my grandchildren,” he said. “We have a lot of PhDs in Google. There is a lot of (erroneous) stuff on the Internet about people being poisoned.”
Until White Rock bought the utility three months ago, it was owned by EPCOR, a large company created by the City of Edmonton.
Arsenic is a concern as well as aging reservoirs like the one the pigeons penetrated in 2010, when their dung seeped through a very small hole in the roof.
Water worries are legion among some in the community of 20,000, where a reported 175 protested plans last month to use a mixture of chlorine and ammonia in new treatment plants.
Critic Dennis Lypka claimed council is “still making people drink tainted water” five years after problems were publicly mooted by the fire chief.
“The quality of the water is dubious — and there is no end in sight,” said Lypka, a member of a group called White Rock Safe Water Alliance.
Official tests show arsenic levels in three of the city’s seven wells were near or exceeded the maximum acceptable concentrations set by Health Canada for the years 2006 to 2013. Arsenic is a naturally occurring poisonous chemical that has been linked to higher rates of liver and lung cancer.
“It’s an outrage that businesses, residents and visitors have not been notified,” said critic Roderick Louis.
An official report says one longtime resident whose hair was tested in 2013 has been linked to arsenic exposure. Pieter Bekker, deputy water comptroller for B.C., said results showed a “significant longterm exposure to arsenic” to the individual.
The problems started in 2010 when deadly E. coli bacteria were found and a boil-water advisory issued. That outbreak was attributed to the pigeons. As a result, Fraser Health ordered two chlorination plants built and upgrades at a cost of $12 million.
Critics say it took a long time to get things moving. In January, Fraser Health officer Lloyd Struck said he was “really quite anxious” to see chlorination operating by June 30. The mayor said it will be done.
Chlorination will do nothing to remove arsenic and manganese, which is also present in levels above acceptable guidelines. Fraser Health has ordered equipment installed to remove the chemicals by Dec. 31, 2018, at a cost of $10 million. Manganese turns sinks and toilets black, but isn’t considered a health risk.
That’s not all. Critics ask whether residents’ interests were protected during a series of transactions last year in which a piece of EPCOR’s land was rezoned to high density by council, the land’s value increased by $12 million and White Rock bought the problem-plagued utility from EPCOR.
To understand their concerns, a little background is necessary.
EPCOR bought the White Rock utility for $9 million in 2005 and has made about $12 million worth of improvements. The firm had been privately held for more than 100 years, the only one of its kind in Metro Vancouver.
In addition to the waterworks, EPCOR acquired a one-hectare parcel on Oxford Street. Zoned for industrial use, its assessed value in 2014 was $1.3 million. The value rocketed to $13.4 million after council agreed to conditionally rezone it for a pair of 20-storey-plus residential towers. At the same time, council was negotiating to take the troubled utility company off EPCOR’s hands for an undisclosed price in the $20-million range.
White Rock completed the purchase in October subject to a subsequent “arbitration” over the final price; the conditional rezoning was passed by council two months later in December.
Lypka said councillors don’t engender much confidence in their ability to make a deal.
“I think the city has overpaid,” he said. “It looks like the city and EPCOR have worked really closely to make these deals happen. How is that not a conflict?”
Baldwin said the city had no claim on the land since it was subdivided “many years ago” by the utility. As a bonus to residents, he said, onethird of the rezoned property will become a park.
EPCOR’s Lindsay Humber said the firm is “satisfied with the regulatory process that has been followed.”
But distaste for council’s actions remain.
“Everything is shrouded in mystery,” said critic David Riley. “White Rock residents have been totally spoiled by this incredible source of water, but the landscape has changed. We’re going to have to pay — but did the government behave responsibly?”
“Everything is shrouded in mystery. White Rock residents have been totally spoiled by this incredible source of water, but the landscape has changed.”
— Water critic David Riley