A “substantial amount” of organics was found in the Williams Lake Water System that requires further discussion with Council.
“There was a lot of concerns which made it imperative that we address those organics,” says Gary Muraca, Chief Administrative Officer for the City. “When we go to [the] Treatment Plant, we were going to be adding more Chlorine that creates these by-products that are not necessarily good for the water system.”
According to the bench-testing, when mixed with high amounts of Chlorine, could create carcinogenic by-products that could cause some health concerns.
Council was given two options to consider for secondary disinfection given the new data.
One option, is to use Chloramines, adding ammonia and chlorine together to disinfect the organics. The second option is to use Chlorine, which would require more funding to remove the organics to be able to use the levels of Chlorine.
Chloramines are uncommonly used across B.C with only three communities using this method. It is more commonly used in Eastern Canada. However, sticking to using Chlorine could be more costly to the City of Williams Lake.
“When we reviewed it, the traditional filtration method [Chlorine] was going to cost upwards of $13 million and $19 million dollars,” Muraca explained. “Where the Chloramine option was going to be $236,000 in addition.”
Muraca says that Staff has researched the use of chloramines, and the water-quality engineers are confident that chloramines will take care of the organics issue.
Council is unanimously leaning towards the use of chloramines which would keep the Water Treatment Plant within the budget.
No formal decision was made in the Nov. 5 Council Meeting.
Council will review and consider the options to make a final decision in a future meeting.
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