The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) has received funding to upgrade Lac La Hache's water treatment system.
The CRD announced this new upgrade in a press release on Tuesday, Oct. 22 and noted it has been made possible by a $3.947-million grant from the B.C Growing Communities Fund. Around $750,000 has been allocated to pay for the drilling of two new wells and the construction of a new pump station, according to Kelly McDonald, the CRD's utilities manager.
"We took the opportunity to add the ability to do a chlorine injection so that we can keep a residual through the system - and that's just to add a secondary barrier to prevent bacteriological contamination like E.coli and that kind of stuff," explained McDonald on the additional upgrades to the water system.
Lac La Hache is no stranger to boil water advisories with several issued over the last few years, often due to the presence of coliform in the drinking water. This bacteria is typically found in water contaminated by animal or human waste and can cause vomiting, diarrhea and fever when ingested.
"What it can represent is changes to the system - so if the water sits too long, or there's a leak somewhere, or the reservoir gets too low, sometimes you'll get coliform bacteria positive counts in your samples, and that is a trigger to either do some more investigating and potentially do a boil water advisory," McDonald explained.
McDonald stated the problem with Lac La Hache's water system is that even if there is one hit of coliform bacteria, the whole system needs to be investigated due to it being so small. The Lac La Hache water system currently serves 500 people with 300 connections, with around 300 parcels of coverage.
"What could be causing it now... is we had the reservoir go low because of the mechanical failure, and then we also had the big fire in Lac La Hache - and they drained the reservoir when they were pumping out of the hydrant," McDonald stated about what could be causing the coliform bacteria.
That's why as part of this upgrade the CRD is adding chlorine injectors to the water treatment system as chlorine is a disinfectant that kills many types of bacteria, viruses and pathogens like coliform.
"Water suppliers add chlorine disinfectants to drinking water to protect public health and protect against contamination from the pipes water travels through," The CRD said in the release. "To ensure that water supplied through this well was safe to drink, filtration and disinfection processes were included. This also reduces the potential requirement to issue boil water notices to residents in the future because of the reduced risk of pathogens being present in the water supply."
Most communities in B.C. have chlorinated their drinking water supply, with Lac La Hache being an exception until now.
McDonald said the upgrades to the water system should be complete by the end of the year.
"The pump house is going to be complete at the end of November - then we will have do to some well testing, and we'll try to make that as least disruptive as we can," McDonald said. "And then after that, it should be online by Christmas."
An information meeting regarding the Lac La Hache water system will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 5 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lac La Hache Community Hall to provide residents with more detailed information about the water system. Those unable to attend are asked to call the CRD Utilities Department at 1-800-665-1636 or email mailbox@cariboord.ca.
