Although local drinking water is regularly subjected to more than 50 different tests, Burns Lake is one of several hundred Canadian municipalities that doesn’t check potable water for all harmful contaminants.
Health Canada’s 2014 Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality gives Maximum Acceptable Concentrations (MACs) for 75 substances considered harmful to humans. Records provided by the municipality last week indicate that Burns Lake tests its tap water for less than a third of them.
Northern Laboratories’ May 25, 2015 analytical report on a water sample drawn May 4, 2015 from one of the municipality’s three deep water wells on Gerow Island lists test results for only 15 of the 75 contaminants listed in the Canadian drinking water guidelines. Other documents available through Northern Health, Burns Lake’s other testing agency, indicate that village water is checked regularly for the bacteria Escherichia coli (commonly referred to as e. coli) and total coliforms, two additional measures recommended by Health Canada in its Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality.
While Burns Lake regularly tests its water for such well-known harmful mineral contaminants as antimony, arsenic, boron, cadmium, lead, mercury, and uranium, the Northern Laboratory and Northern Health reports suggest it does not check regularly for such substances as benzene, carbon tetrachloride, haloacetic acids, and trihalomethanes, some of which are known to cause cancer.
Burns Lake isn’t alone in this respect. A recent CBC News investigation found that only one of 18 major Canadian cities surveyed – Ottawa – tested its water for all 75 substances listed in Health Canada’s drinking water guidelines. Iqaluit, which tests for only 20 of them, scored only slightly higher than Burns Lake.
Municipalities that don’t test their water for all 75 contaminants aren’t in violation of any federal laws or regulations. That’s because in Canada, each province decides how many tests municipalities are required to complete based on contaminants thought or known to exist in each region.
In B.C., water systems with two or more connections – as well as all potable commercial or industrial water systems – must comply with the provincial Drinking Water Protection Act and Drinking Water Protection Regulation. B.C.’s health authorities (including Northern Health) are responsible for providing oversight to ensure potable water is safe from pathogens and substances known to negatively affect human health.
“During my tenure, we have not tested for all substances,” Rick Martin, Burns Lake’s Director of Public Works, confirmed last week. “Northern Health is our governing body and we follow their requirements. Our risk of many substances are minimal due to source location.”
Some experts suggest that failure to test potable water for all contaminants listed in Health Canada’s drinking water guidelines exposes citizens to risk. Martin, however, insists that Burns Lake’s testing program is adequate and local drinking water is safe.
He notes that Burns Lake water gets a passing grade in all but one of the more than 50 tests to which it is subjected.
“Manganese concentration is higher than the (Health Canada) aesthetic objective and can cause staining, but it is not health related,” he said. “Our water is tested in four to five locations every week for chlorine concentrations, and samples are sent to Northern Health every month. We have never had a failed sample during my tenure.”
Historical records confirm Martin’s statements. In its final Burns Lake water analysis report for 2013, Northern Labs noted that “all metal levels are below Health Canada’s safe limits as specified in the guidelines.
“Manganese is higher than its aesthetic objective,” Northern Labs noted in 2013. “This means that the water may be visually unattractive and/or unpalatable, but is not a health risk.”
Test results available through Northern Health tell a similar story. In the past two years, that agency has essentially found no evidence of e. coli or any other type of coliform in Burns Lake’s drinking water.
Burns Lake’s potable water comes from three deep wells located on Gerow Island. From there, it is pumped to the village’s high lift station, where it is chlorinated.
On average, the municipality’s water system handles 1100 cubic meters of water each day, although this total spikes significantly in summer.