Safe Water Program

 

The new Safe Drinking Water regulations introduced higher standards for public drinking water supplies. In 2005 the Renfrew County and District Health Unit responded to 134 adverse water notifications. Most of these came from smaller facilities such as municipal halls, rural schools and restaurants. In most instances once remedial work was completed on the water system, the water was found to be safe for human consumption.

 

In 2005 the Health Unit issued fourteen boil water orders to the owner or operator of a water system supplying water to members of the public. An order is issued if test results indicate a potential to impact the health of the people who consume the water.

 

The Health Unit provided advice to 647 persons regarding their private wells. Many of these conversations dealt with how to correct structural problems with wells, method of disinfecting water supplies, and how to interpret water sample results. The Health Unit also provided over 1000 copies of the Keeping Your Well Water Safe to Drink kit. This kit provides advice and information about construction, testing and disinfecting procedures for private wells.

 

Over 7800 private water samples were submitted through the Health Unit for laboratory analysis in 2005. A total of 2169 samples (27%) were reported as unacceptable based on the Ontario drinking water standards. 

 

Twenty-four bathing beaches were tested on a weekly basis over the summer months. One beach was closed for a period of time due to high bacteria counts.