Hantsport town council is working on a plan to ensure drinking water processed at the local water treatment facility continues to meet provincial regulations.
At the Oct. 12 council meeting, Hantsport CAO Jeff Lawrence presented council members with options for reducing trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water filtered at the water treatment plant that serves Hantsport, the Glooscap First Nation, portions of West Hants and some areas of Kings County.
“Our numbers are right around the provincial limit — some tests are slightly under, some tests are slightly over,” said Lawrence.
According to Nova Scotia Environment’s website, Health Canada consults with each province and territory to determine the acceptable level of THMs in drinking water in Canada. The site indicates that some experts in Canada believe there is a causal relationship between the consumption of water with high levels of THMs and the development of cancer.
In a phone interview, Lawrence said the two treatment methods he feels will reduce the amount of THMs in water treated at the plant are nanofiltration and coagulation.
Nanofiltration is a filtration method that targets specific undesirable particles, such as THMs, and removes them from drinking water. Coagulation involves using chemicals to solidify harmful organics, making them easier to remove before they react with chlorine and form THMs.
“The capital cost for nanofiltration is… in excess of $900,000. Coagulation is in excess of $250,000,” said Lawrence.
“The plant itself is still state-of-the-art. It does everything it was supposed to do and this will just be (an addition) to the filtration process.” - CAO Jeff Lawrence
He said council will want to know the ongoing operational costs of each method to determine the most cost-effective solution before deciding on a course of action.
“Under either scenario we would certainly be looking for provincial and federal funding that would be available to assist us with costs,” he said.
If coagulation is found to be the most cost-effective manner, Lawrence says, a pilot test will be completed at the water treatment plant to ensure coagulation will successfully reduce the THMs found in the drinking water.
Lawrence says a tentative deadline for the pilot project to be completed is March 31, 2011. He says if their investigation yields promising results, and council approves, upgrades to the water treatment plant’s filtration process could begin in April or May of next year.
Lawrence says the $2.4-million upgraded water treatment plant that opened in 2004 “addressed the needs of the day,” but health standards enforced by the Department of Environment continue to change as new studies become available.
“The plant itself is still state-of-the-art. It does everything it was supposed to do and this will just be (an addition) to the filtration process.”
Nova Scotia Environment’s website recommends that people concerned by the levels of THMs in their water supply “use a water pitcher with a carbon filter, install a tap-mounted carbon filter, or… use bottled water.”
