“A stop-gap measure”

City flushing brown water in Lakeview lines

Gatineau’s public works has been flushing the water system in Lakeview through fire hydrants to deal with brown water. Residents are wondering if this practice is effective.

For years, some Lakeview Terrace residents have had discoloured water from their taps. The city reports that discoloured water can have numerous causes, but the main culprit is corrosion in cast-iron pipes. Another factor is that water rests in the mains longer in sparse neighbourhoods, such as Lakeview Terrace, causing discolouration.

The citizens’ H2O Lakeview Committee is asking its members who complain to 3-1-1 to specifically ask the city not to purge or flush hydrants, but the city seems to have no alternative.

“Purging is a temporary measure the city has been trying for a long time, but it’s an enormous waste of water,” said Louis-Jean Faucher, spokesperson for the H2O committee. “The idea is that the more water circulates in the pipes, the less it becomes reddish-orange, but it’s hard to prove. Water colour varies sporadically. Some suspect the purges make the situation worse.”

“Since November, one Lakeview resident has been collecting photos of public works purging fire hydrants near her home, practically every week.

 

We’ve asked the city to stop purging, but they continue,” said Faucher. “What I find ridiculous is that, when residents call about brown water, the agent asks them to just let the water run. And last year, one household received a fine for watering their lawn outside the prescribed hours.”

Roberto Narbaitz, Civil Engineering professor at the University of Ottawa, told the Bulletin that, while purging is not 100% effective, it helps.

“It’s a necessary evil until the cast-iron pipes are removed. If the city does not purge the system once the pipes’ iron is in the water, how will the iron get out ? Through the taps! If the city does not purge, residents will get even more iron in their water,” said the water-treatment expert.

Mr Narbaitz also mentioned the practice of “pigging” the lines, “which consists of using styrofoam blocks to scrape the interiors of the pipes to clean (the rust) temporarily. It does not eliminate the problem. as the source of the problem is the pipes.” Mr Narbaitz added that plastic pipes now used by municipalities have a longer lifespan than old cast-iron lines.

According to Deschênes councillor Richard Bégin, purging fire hydrants “has been the only solution so far. I've been fighting since 2013 for a permanent solution. Over the next few years, we’ll solve this once and for all. Consultations have already started with residents along Vanier Road, between Aylmer Road and Lucerne Boulevard, in view of major work in 2017-2018 to change the water-lines.”

After this first phase, in 2018, a second phase in 2019 will tackle the water lines in the rest of the neighbourhood. The city estimates that roughly $53 million is needed to solve the brown-water problem affecting almost 7% of the water system. Gatineau’s city-wide plan to remedy brown water is spread over a decade. The increase in the 2022 infrastructure tax will be entirely allocated to this effort. “I think the city does not know what to do and they are flushing hydrants to show complainants that they are doing something”, added Faucher.