A 30-day chlorinated filtration system trial designed to remove arsenic from the drinking water in the northwestern Ontario Village of Rosslyn, near Thunder Bay, could mean the end of an advisory that’s been in effect since March 2023.
Local officials within the village’s municipal government of Oliver Paipoonge announced that the arsenic treatment process was submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks on March 12, and it was approved and incorporated into the municipality’s Drinking Water License on August 7.
Installation and commissioning of the chlorinated filtration system by a Thunder Bay mechanical contractor for nearly $374,000 was scheduled for the first week of November, according to a notice from the local CAO. The municipality is seeking funding to help offset the cost.
While elevated arsenic isn’t uncommon in well systems, officials are hoping the chlorinated filtration system will drop levels of the toxic heavy metal below regulatory thresholds for the 32 households on the Rosslyn Village water system. The maximum acceptable concentration for arsenic in Ontario drinking water is 0.010 mg/L, but in early 2023, the village’s south well sampled at .01 mg/L. The village’s north well had already been closed for high levels of arsenic.
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Since the drinking water advisory went into effect, the municipality has provided Rosslyn residents with bottled water at a cost of about $4,000 per month.
“The Municipality worked with the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), Walkerton Clean Water Centre (WCWC), and other parties to find a solution to remove arsenic,” said CAO Wayne Hanchard in a community notice. “That collaboration resulted, after rigorous testing by WCWC, in a plan to employ a chlorinated filtration treatment system. Subsequently Kozar Engineering was engaged to design a system to be housed in the sea can that was purchased for the WCWC testing.”
Once the system is operational, the municipality will issue another RFP for carpentry and painting to complete a section between the local water plant and the sea can.
The current drinking water advisory was issued by the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, which states that the well water is not to be consumed, even if boiled.
WCWC also authored an arsenic removal plan in 2020 for a well system in a small southwestern Ontario village.
This problem still exists even after the $374,000 and $4000 a month for water. The project was a fail. The person or people behind this job should be asked some questions as to why.