Machinery at Prince Albert's water treatment plant. (Council agenda package/City of P.A.)

By Alison Sandstrom

Water Treatment

Prince Albert looks to reduce corrosion, lead leaching in water supply

Dec 6, 2020 | 4:00 PM

The City of Prince Albert is taking steps to lower the amount of lead flowing through taps in homes with older pipes.

“The water the city treats and sends out to your home is safe to drink,” water treatment plant manager, Andy Busse told Monday night’s council executive meeting. “However there are some plumbing and service connection types that may introduce lead into your water supply.”

Up until the 1950s, lead was a common material used in household plumbing. Approximately 520 properties in Prince Albert still have lead service connections leading from the water main to the residence.

In anticipation of Health Canada lowering the maximum acceptable concentration for lead in drinking water from 0.010 mg/L to 0.005 mg/L, the City of Prince Albert undertook a study of the amount of the lead leaching into drinking water through corrosion. On Monday night Busse presented the findings of the study to council.

Testing the water from a sample of properties with lead service connections in Prince Albert, the city found 28 per cent of them had lead levels above the current allowable limit.

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“The alarming part is it’s projected that 55 per cent of our samples will exceed the future [limit] when it’s lowered to 0.005,” Busse continued.

Examples of corroded pipes. (Council agenda package/City of P.A.)

Reducing corrosion

To protect pipes from further corrosion, which can lead to lead being introduced into the water as it flows through, Busse is proposing adding a chemical compound called orthophosphate to the city’s water supply.

“It creates a small film and that way the water can’t react with the metals that are there or inform the deposits [on the pipes],” he said.

It’s estimated orthophosphate can reduce current lead levels by 60 to 77 per cent, as well as decrease instances of discoloured water, often caused by manganese and iron being corroded off pipes.

Busse said orthophosphate is naturally occurring in foods like milk, beef and nuts.

“The addition of it is such a low dose that it would represent less than one per cent of what a person typically consumes in a day,” Busse said. “And it has no impact to the taste or odour of drinking water.”

Council is expected to approve $71,500 for the addition of orthophosphate to the water in the 2021 budget, $34,000 of that is a one-time capital cost for equipment purchase and installation.

Hundreds of lead services connections remain

As for lead service connections, the City continues to chip away at the approximately 520 remaining in the city.

Around 230 lead service connections have been replaced since 2012. Prince Albert replaces an average of 20 lead service connections a year at a cost of around $15,000 each. While the city replaces the connection from the water main to the property line, residents are responsible for the portion of the connection within their property.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom