Health Authority asks to protect water supply
Wednesday, 04 October 2006
BY ANDRU MCCRACKEN
Robson Valley Times
The Northern Health Authority is asking Valemount to upgrade its water system to be able to guard against cryptosporidium. Bruce Gaunt, the man in charge of drinking water with the health authority, wants the village to take the next step in water treatment.
“Despite the good quality of the water source, almost firsthand from the mountain, there is a risk of waterborne protozoa. Giardia is one that has been well identified. There is another one called cryptosporidium,” said Gaunt.
Gaunt said that Valemount suffered an outbreak of giardia in 1996. However the present system doesn’t guard against cryptosporidium.
He said that Valemount has done some work in preparation for the outbreak, now he’s asking them to take the next step.
Cryptosporidium is resistant to chlorination and it is only in recent years that there are treatments that can eliminate it.
“This is still a risk factor for the municipality and the need to deal with that as well,” he said.
He said that cryptosporidium is a pathogen in temperate water systems that can cause diarrhoea and cause a crippling illness to those with suppressed immune systems.
Cryptosporidium is endemic, meaning that just about any surface water source in the province likely contains it.
“If you ever been on a farm and had calves with scours, that is an attack of cryptosporidium,” he said
He said that so far, there hasn’t been an outbreak in northern B.C., but prior to 2000 there were outbreaks in Kamloops and Kelowna. He said that there was a widely known attack in North Battleford in 2001 and that Victoria and Kamloops are bolstering their water supply against the organisms.
“There comes a point when chlorination needs to be augmented,” he said.
He said that the number of tourists coming to Valemount is a good reason to treat the pathogen.
“We have rather a high preponderance of hotel rooms when we consider the population. It’s not like we’re just considering the population of Valemount. We have people coming enroute from Edmonton to Vancouver. Some of those travellers are not used to an organism challenge if they were to receive it,” he said.
“When you are dealing with drinking water more than with any other kind of intervention, you affect more people in a more profound way than anywhere else.”
He said that a dirty restaurant only affects people who eat there, but anybody who stops into town, especially if they stay overnight, are going to be impacted by the town’s water supply.
“How do you quantify what is relatively less risky when you are dealing with people from all walks of life and different communities passing through? If you have the ability to deal with a pathogen, a disease-causing organism, and we’re not doing it, we make ourselves vulnerable to having an outbreak,” he said.
He said that the village would be able to obtain substantial assistance for this.
“We have such cheap water anyhow; we tend to think that it is free. It isn’t free. There comes a cost to have water delivered to your tap under pressure.”
When municipalities begin to become concerned about the costs, Gaunt compares the cost of treating water to other utilities elsewhere in the country.
“It’s a good news story for Valemount. It’s a worthwhile program,” he said.
The Village of Valemount is taking the request seriously. At last Tuesday’s meeting councillors resolved to ask Urban Systems to pursue a planning grant for water system enhancements. Urban Systems had been developing a proposal for the village square concept under the provinces Infrastructure Planning Program; however, they will try to use another fund to continue that process.
