Oceanside Star
Published: Thursday, September 25, 2008
THE EDITOR:

The 'safety of water supply' article from Sept. 18 stated that the City of Parksville's director of engineering has determined a "very small" safety factor relating to the water supply.

The report quoted several statistics about volume supply and demand; however, the most urgent safety concern with the drinking water supply was not mentioned. Health risks due to the complete lack of water source protection should be a priority issue for the City staff and the candidates in the upcoming election. Both the well-field recharge areas and the surface watershed supplying the Englishman River have no safety protection for the source water. Also, the municipal system has no water treatment plant, relying only on chemical disinfection.

Some of the risk factors that have an immediate and/or long-term influence on drinking water safety include a cemetery very close to a water source, a large landfill site dating back to the 1940s, auto wreckers, almost 3,000 septic disposal systems (some of which are not operating efficiently or have failed), industrial, commercial, transportation and chemical storage in the watershed, to identify a few. The use of fire retardant on a forest or industrial fire, a chemical spill or vehicle accident, fertilizer applied upstream, algae bloom, or dead fish in the river could or should be cause for questioning the water supply safety.
Perhaps someone could arrange a watershed bus tour for the City staff, prospective elected officials, and individuals interested in water-supply source protection to see the onsite situations and some solutions to help resolve the 'very small' safety factor issue.

Trevor Wicks,

Qualicum Beach

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