GV KD looks at ways to control bacterial levels

Concerns raised about adding more disinfectant

THE GREATER VANCOUVER Regional District (GVRD) is considering two options to control bacterial levels in

drinking water: add disinfectant.

The options involve:

@ additional chlorine (re- chlorination) through boaster sia- tions along the drinking water line;

@ adding chloramine at the source (chloramine is a mixture of ‘chlorine and ammonia).

“We have to get a disinfectant residual into the waler system to contro! bacterial tevels, So we are going to have higher levels of a disinfectant in the water system than we have now," said GVRD water treatment and research

. supervisor Doug Neden.

Neden said the problem with the current chlorine system is that the chemical does not remain = in drinking water and evertually dissipates.

The GVRD board will receive a report in the fall about proposed treatments to drinking water.

GVRD spokesman Bud Elsie said more public feedback is ex-

' pected on the issue. Neden said it is mecessary to add more disinfectant to meet drinking ‘water guidelines for bacterial content.

Currently, GVRD water is

-, treated with chlorine at source locations near the Capilano,

Seymour and = Coquitlam reser- voirs.

Elsie said he was aware of only one chlorine booster station pres- ently in operation in Vancouver.

Approximately 40 booster sta- -tions would be needed for an upgraded. chlorine-based system. Booster stations are not necessary to distribute chloramine-treated water,

The difference between the two-

disinfectants is that chloramine Jasts: longer in the system and _ chloramine is considered odorless by most people.

But ‘chloramine’s staying power ’ has some local residents concerned about health effects.

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disinfectant or add = more

by Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter

Said North Vancouver resident Jim Weber, “It's bad cnough having to deal with chlorine.”

Weber suid he paid $500 to in- stall.a chlorine filtration system in his home.

But Neden said the same filtra- tion system can be used to remove chloramine from water.

Weber said the GVRD would not have a bacterial problem if drinking water was not turbid. Weber believes that the turbidity is related to watershed logging prac- tices.

Some anti-chloramine groups say North Shore residents, who live closer to the source water supply, will likely receive higher doses of chloramine and chlorine.

Nedezn said both chlorine and chloramine are toxic to fish, but becavse chloramine remains in the water longer, its toxic effect on fish-bearing creeks is usually more extensive.

He said a largé fish kill in a Surrey creek in 1988 was related to a watermain break and chloramine-treated drinking water entering the creek. That area of Surrey was involved in a GVRD test using chloramine.

Elsie said there have been sever- al fish kills because of chlorine- treated drinking water entering creeks.

But Neden said GVRD municipalities do not have ade- quate chlorination, including parts of North Vancouver and West Vancouver.

Neden said water leaves the chlorine plants with chlorine levels of 0.9 mg per litre of water.

He said about half of the chlo- rine is depleted almost right away.

“Say we are talking about the Seymour system, by the time it

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gets down to the first customer at Capilanoa College the residual has dropped down to 0.5 or 6.6,"% said Neden,

He said by the time that same water travels to other parts of North Vancouver or Burnaby, there is no chlorine left in it,

He said the ideal chlorine level was a minimum of 0.2 throughout the system to control bacteria,

He said between 80% and 90% of Lower Mainland drinking water has less than 0.2 mg of chlorine per litre of water,

“If we had a problem, a con- tamination of our ‘water system with disease-causing bacteria, we would know that the chlorine residual is too low to control the spread of bacteria,*' said Neden.

He said if Abbotsford had a chlorine residual, the recent drinking water problem would probably have been isolated to a sniall area.

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