Water Quality

If you share our concerns about water quality, you may be interested to read the information on this page, which is outlined below:

• Water Quality Concerns
  • Water Testing
  • Bacterial Testing
• Other Testing
• Oliver Municipal Water System
• Oliver Rural Water System
• Addressing Water Quality Concerns

Water Quality Concerns

Water quality is a combination of measured and perceived parameters in any water supply. The obvious concerns relate to short-term and long-term impacts to human health. The E.coli outbreak spread through the municipal water supply in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000, underscores the immediate risks associated with improper disinfection of a public water supply.

While disinfection can prevent most water-borne diseases, not all pathogens are effectively destroyed by conventional chlorine disinfection. An outbreak of cryptosporidium in Cranbrook and Kelowna, during the summer of 1996, demonstrates the difficulty of treating these pathogens with only chlorination. Giardia is another difficult to destroy pathogen, because it forms cysts that protect it from chlorine. Many municipalities have invested in expensive filtering technologies to address these types of pathogens.

Besides bacterial contamination, water supplies can also effect long term health if they contain unacceptable levels of certain compounds.

While a water supply may be safe to drink, it may be unpalatable because of aesthetic concerns such as taste, odour, colour or turbidity.

Oliver is fortunate to have a relatively good water supply. At this time, there are no known cases of water-borne diseases spread by our municipal water systems. However, this does not mean we can cease being vigilant about our water system. Despite our "clean" history, there are concerns about our water system that need monitoring and exploration of affordable options.

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Water Testing in Oliver

Bacterial Testing

Each of the Town's water systems is tested on a weekly basis all year round for bacterial contamination. Water samples are submitted to provincial Ministry of Health officials, who send it off for lab testing to detect two components: fecal coliforms and total coliforms. Fecal coliforms are a common bacteria that exist in the gut of all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Other coliform bacteria also exist, which may originate in decaying organic matter.  

Coliform bacteria are not themselves pathogenic; that is, they do not cause disease. However, they are used as an indicator of potential disease because it is impossible to conduct specific tests for all diseases potentially transmitted through drinking water.

A presence of coliform bacteria in water indicates potential contamination. Fecal coliforms specifically indicate contamination from human or animal sources, and a potential for other, disease causing organisms to be present. An absence of coliform bacteria is taken to indicate successful disinfection and safe water to drink. (notwithstanding concerns about giardia or cryptosporidium - see water quality concerns, above)

Lab tests will indicate the presence or absence of coliform bacteria. If no coliforms are detected the water is declared "satisfactory". If fecal coliform are detected, the water is declared "not satisfactory". It is immediately retested and a boil water advisory may be issued. If lab tests indicate no fecal coliform but some total coliform, then the water is immediately retested. A second positive result may also lead to a boil water advisory. 

Other Testing

All of the Town's rural and urban water sources are also tested on an annual basis for a full range of components including nitrates and various metals. These can be monitored on an annual basis to detect any immediate quality concerns and to track any trends in water quality from particular wells.

The following links will provide further information on this testing:

• Interior Health
• Canadian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines from Health Canada 
• BC Ministry of Health Services

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Municipal Water Quality

Within the municipal boundaries, the Town receives very few complaints about water quality. The municipal water system, which services most in-town properties is ground sourced all year long. As a result, most in-town residents do not experience the turbidity problems associated with the rural, surface water sourced system. Most complaints are aesthetic ones, concerning the high mineral content (hardness) in some of the water sources. 

However, recent experience in Walkerton demonstrates that well water is not immune from contamination. While Oliver's wells are not located near animal grazing operations, we must continue to be vigilant about adjacent land uses. In addition, Oliver's well water supplies are not currently disinfected, a situation which may have to be rectified in future years.

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Rural Water Quality

The majority of complaints about water quality in the rural area are concerning high turbidity and organic taste  in the summer months, particularly during the freshet (a great rise or overflowing of a stream / river caused by heavy rains or melted snow).

Much of the rural water system was designed to only supply irrigation flows by the former South Okanagan Lands Irrigation District. Because of the high flow demands created by agriculture, most of the rural water supply in summer months is derived from surface, rather than groundwater sources. 

Most rural water in the irrigation season was traditionally supplied by the irrigation canal, which carries Okanagan River water, diverted just downstream of Vaseux Lake. The canal water is pumped by four pumping stations into a pressurized pipeline system, which is typically a single water main to serve both irrigation and domestic needs. 

When SOLID began serving domestic customers through this system, it installed a chlorine disinfection system at each pumping system on the canal. Unfortunately, the systems were not designed for today's standards, which require a minimal contact time before delivery to domestic customers. This contact time is needed for the chlorine to produce its maximum disinfecting effect.  Under the current system, chlorine gas is injected into the water flow at the pump station and arrives at the first customer's service point within a few seconds.

High turbidity in the water supply occurs in the early summer, when creaks at peak flow are carrying significant amounts of suspended solids into the Okanagan River. This high turbidity further decreases the effectiveness of chlorine disinfection. In addition, increased chlorine levels in water carrying a high organic content will result in the formation of trihalomethanes, which pose a further health concern.

Finally, as mentioned earlier, there are some water-borne diseases in surface waters that are inherently immune to chlorine disinfection. 

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Addressing Water Quality Concerns

For the above reasons, the recent problems in Walkerton have heightened the local concerns about water quality, particularly on joint domestic/agricultural systems using surface water supplies.

To address this concern, work is substantially completed on Phase 1 (Water Systems 6 & 7) of a project to install parallel water mains, new well and a new reservoir to deliver well water year-round to rural domestic water customers. A funding application for Phase 2 (Water System 4 and Town of Oliver metering program) has been approved under the Canada-British Columbia Infrastructure Program. Work will commence in the spring of 2009. The final Phase 3 (Water System 1) will be considered after Phase 2 is underway and will be similar to the previous phases.

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