Drayton and Moorefield residents can raise a glass of clear, clean water to toast the safety of their local supply.
Municipal drinking water systems in both communities recently received a 100 per cent compliance rating in an inspection report from the Ministry of Environment (MOE).
At the Jan. 9 Mapleton council meeting, public works director Larry Lynch explained that, under the province’s Safe Drinking Water Act, the Ministry of the Environment is required to perform a detailed inspection of both the Drayton and Moorefield drinking water systems annually. The primary focus of these inspections is to confirm compliance with Ministry of Environment legislation and authorizing documents such as Orders and Certificates of Approvals, as well as evaluating conformance with ministry drinking water related policies and guidelines during the inspection period.
In a written report, Lynch noted the 2012 MOE inspections are based on a “focused” inspection of local systems. Although such inspections involved fewer activities then those normally undertaken by a “detailed” inspection, it contained most of the elements required to assess key compliance issues.
Focused inspection
“Our systems were chosen for a ‘focused’ inspection during the inspection cycle because inspection findings over the past three years were such that the number of violations were minimal or non-existent,” Lynch explained.
“I am very happy to advise council that after three consecutive years of operational improvements, our system operator, Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), has achieved a 100% inspection rating in both our Drayton and Moorefield drinking water system operations for 2012,” Lynch reported.
To put this into perspective, he continued, of the 454 inspection modules reviewed for Drayton there were zero non-compliance ratings, and of the 429 modules reviewed in Moorefield there were again zero non-compliance issues.
“I have been here five years and this is the first time we’ve ever received 100%. I think that speaks very highly of the way we’re doing business,” stated Lynch. However, he added, “Our water systems are in excellent shape, but we can’t afford to be complacent about drinking water safety.”
