While taps might be dry in the short term, some residents in Erin’s Mountainview subdivision may be short of drinking water for a bit longer.
There’s been some concern raised in town over the past week as to the impact the hydrant installation will cause.
On Nov. 5, council received a report from Water Superintendent Frank Smedley.
In that report, Smedley asked council to provide direction to staff to inform Ken Chapman to contact the water superintendent before issuing information to the public about the operation of the town water systems.
Smedley noted the installation of four hydrants in the Mountainview subdivision was scheduled to begin on Oct. 28.
On Oct. 24, information sheets were distributed to advise the 41 affected subdivision residents.
He said the attached information sheets “clearly state to contact the water department staff if they have any questions”.
Smedley’s phone number at work is 519-855-4407 ext. 253.
He noted that variations of this form have been used in the past “and to the best of my knowledge, we have never experienced a problem.”
On Oct. 25, Smedley received an email stating that the hydrant work was being postponed until the following Wednesday due to the required parts not being available.
On Oct. 28, Smedley contacted the contractor for updated information as to when the job would commence.
At that time, work was postponed to the week of Nov. 4.
Smedley said that on Oct. 28, council and staff received an email from Ken Chapman dated Oct. 27.
Smedley said he responded to the email and asked Chapman to contact him directly to discuss the matter.
“I did not receive any response from him.”
Then, on Oct. 28, Smedley received a call from Tim Barney of the Wellington Dufferin Guelph Health Unit.
Barney had been contacted by Chapman. “I discussed the situation with the health unit and they did not have a problem with our process. I stated that I was going to be handing out an updated information flyer to clarify the situation in regards to the postponement of the job. Barney sent provide a handout that the Health Unit uses in order to assist in the rewording of the information handout.
Using the latest information, input from the contractor, as well as wording suggestions from the Health Unit, a revised handout was sent to residents – including the new start date.
Smedley noted that on Oct. 29, an MOE inspector was at the water department office “as part of our annual inspections.”
At that time, the Mountainview hydrant situation was discussed along with Chapman’s concerns.
“The inspector did not have any concerns with our procedures.”
At the special council meeting held on Oct. 29, Chapman had asked to speak, however, special meeting agendas are generally not amended as they are to deal with specific issues.
After not being able to address council at the meeting Chapman provided his information to the Erin Advocate representative at the meeting. Chapman stated that he had already sent his information to the Wellington Advertiser.
On Oct. 30, Smedley received a call from the MOE inspector who stated Chapman had once again called the MOE.
At that time, Smedley said he was told that Chapman would be handing out his own information sheets to the affected residents.
Smedley said “The town of Erin water department staff work very hard to instill confidence in municipal water operations. This if evident by our recent 100% rating as noted in the detailed MOE inspection.”
Smedley said that being directly responsible for providing safe drinking water to the residents of Erin, this rating is something he believed council should be proud of.
He added that Chapman was the water representative when he served on local council and is now our the town’s county councillor.
Smedley contended that Chapman should have spoken with him before he submitting information about the water department to the public.
He stressed that a water shutdown does not create an adverse water situation
“However, the town must follow set operating procedure that outlines not drinking the water until satisfactory samples are received.”
Essentially, “we were asking that when the water was shut down to put in the hydrants, the town would be doing water sampling.
“The request was to not drink the water until we get the [sample] results back.”
Smedley added that the same form has been used in other instances such as water main breaks.
“However for some reason, Ken [Chapman] decided he didn’t like the form or something, so he sent an email to council with a list of items he wasn’t pleased with, then called the health unit and the MOE. Of course, he didn’t call me, which is exactly what the [orignal] form requested.”
Smedley noted that Chapman was the water representative while he was on council.
“It’s not like he didn’t know who to call.”
Smedley said he’s talked to representatives of the MOE and local health units.
“They have no problem with our proceedures.”
He added the job ended up being postponed, so additional handouts to residents were distributed.
“I did call him, but he refused to talk to me.”
He added that as of early Monday (Nov. 4) Chapman had yet to speak with him.
Smedley said “we’re going ahead to do the job as per our proceedures. When the water samples come back we will inform the residents.”
“It is not part of our procedure to issue residents drinking water and this has not been a problem in the past. This is dealt with on a case by case basis.
However, Smedley added that if bottled water is requested by those residents, it can be delivered.
“That has always been the case if people needed it.”
Smedley said that was why the form included contact information if residents has issues.
“I don’t know why [Chapman] got so upset in the beginning.”
Smedley hoped the work could proceed quickly and that the same would happen with the results coming through quickly as well.
Chapman said he was originally concerned because he believed the Oct. 25 notice did not provide sufficient time to prepare.
That is why Chapman wanted to make a presentation at the Oct. 29 council session.
He expressed concerns regarding the health and safety of the residents use of the town water since the flyer stated that until test results came back, water should only be used for washing and bathing – not drinking.
Since this work is expected to take three days with the addition of five working days for testing, Chapman contended that the residents of Mountainview subdivision will be without safe drinking water for a minimum of ten days (which includes the two day weekend – that is assuming that work will start on Monday).
He wondered whether the Ministry of Health been contacted regarding fast tracking the testing of the water samples and will these samples be hand delivered.
He also questioned whether the Ministry of Health was informed that 41 homes will be without safe drinking water for an extended period of time.
In a later telephone interview with Chapman, he said the original flyer only provided minimal information.
Now, Chapman said, the town will be providing water to the residents.
He said one of his concerns had been Smedley’s email which suggested the town did not have to supply water to the residents.
“I checked with the Ministry and they said that the town has to provide [the affected] residents with fresh drinking water.”
However, even now, Chapman said the water is only going to be supplied “… on request.”
Chapman agreed that the water will likely only be shut off for four or five hours.
“We can get over that. But 10 days is a long time without being able to drink the water.”
