Hello Everyone
An update on what the RDN has been
doing at the reservoirs on Notch Hill.
After installing a new chlorinator
in early December, the RDN found elevated levels of chlorine in the water
being delivered to our homes. Many of you noticed and commented on the
strong chlorine smell in the water. Their investigation of the Notch Hill
system showed that one of the key backwater valves was malfunctioning and
allowing freshly chlorinated water to leave the reservoirs without much
residence time to work on the iron/manganese and deposit them into the
bottom of the reservoir. Chlorine and unprecipitated iron/manganese ions
were flowing into the community distribution lines. The chlorine began to
work on the ions along the way and so, besides the chlorine smell, iron and
manganese were being deposited in the distribution pipes and some moved into
your homes as well. I received lots of comments on how reddish the water
was.
On December 4th, the RDN
began to better balance the inflowing water into the two reservoirs from the
four supply wells.
On Tuesday (10th) they
finished replacing a defective backwater valve and now chlorine management
should be back to “normal”
RDN will spend the next week or so
monitoring iron and manganese levels in the water flowing into the
community. They expect to see a reduction in those levels due to the
improved chlorination and the new inflow water balancing practice.
When they are satisfied that the
system has settled down and ion levels are reduced, they will bring the good
water quality Madrona #7 (Fairwinds Resort new well) on stream. That well
has more than enough capacity to replace the volumes currently coming from
the poor quality #2 well over by the firehouse, so the #2 well will be
demoted to level three, which means it will only be used as an emergency
backup well. The addition of the #7 better quality water should also further
dilute the ion concentrations resident in the other three wells that now
supply water to us.
It may take awhile to see
permanently reduced ion levels due to these upgrades and operational
changes, but things should look better by the middle of January.
The RDN and Fairwinds are
co-operating to build a new pumping station in the middle of Fairwinds’
well field in Madrona. When the pumphouse is finished in late summer 2009,
one or more of the other Fairwinds’ new wells, and the RDN wells on
Claudette Rd. will be brought on stream, in late fall, to replace the water
volumes from the other poor quality firehouse wells. Again, this dilution
should improve the aesthetic look of our water. Also remember, some time in
early June the Englishman River water will be turned on for the third summer
in a row. Several people commented about the “better” quality water during
the summer of 2008 when the river water was being added. 40% of our summer
water volumes are supplied by the river.
All volunteer water sampling forms
have been picked and Ian is busily inputting the data into Access so that we
can examine patterns. When we have reached some conclusions we will let you
know.
Have a wonderful Christmas and New
Year here in Fairwinds or wherever you plan to spend the holidays. Stay
safe.
Joe Straka
Chairman, Water Quality and Quantity Committee
