Dangerous Duteau

Don't filter Duteau Creek water.
Shut Duteau down.
Keep it only for its original use--irrigation of farms and acreages.

This article is (naturally) in lay language, the limit of my comprehension.
And to be blunt, that's probably the limit of many everyday acquaintances too.
Few of us are academics.
But there are things we should look at more deeply.

Let's start with a perception exercise.
Consider the following two potential water sources for your family's drinking water.
Decide which of the two will supply water to you and your extended family.

(Technical people involved in the area's water system will scoff at my "oversimplification", but we residents--laypeople--were recently asked, via a referendum, to make decisions that affect us.  To many people, my oversimplified summary may still contain "complexities" about which they were personally unaware.  Such is life.)  
    
Back to the perception exercise.
Picture two lakes: 
Lake #1 is at the top of a watershed, a plateau with a few cabins (presumably with bio-toilets or septic fields), year-round public recreation (hunting, fishing, hiking), plentiful wildlife, the only industrial use is current and historical logging with clearcuts, open areas adjacent to now-riparian-protected lakefront with water system intakes.  Agricultural use includes grazing cattle on open range.  That's the Duteau Creek water system of four interconnected lakes which act as water reservoirs for snowmelt and rainfall.

Lake #2 is in the valley bottom, surrounded mostly by housing (the majority of which are connected to sanitary sewers), paved travel corridors with associated commercial construction, farming, former ranchlands, some parkland and historical cabins whose construction predated riparian rules (which have presumably now equipped themselves with bio-toilets or pumped septic catchments), a myriad of chiefly seasonal public uses (boating, fishing, beaches, camping).  That's the deep Kalamalka/Wood Lake water system, whose water inputs are predominantly from surface and groundwater springs.  Okanagan Lake is also such a lake.

Which would you choose for your family's drinking water?

Gut reaction would likely point to the upland source, Lake #1.
Having resided here for nearly 40 years, that was my feeling too.

Was!

Would your answer change if you discover that Lake #1, the upland system of four lakes, today contains carcinogens (cancer-producing substances) in it that were not present before the Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant was built?

That's right, those cancer-producing substances were not present before the water treatment plant was built.

Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant trihalomethane levels

have exceeded maximum recommended levels every year since 1998:

  1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011!!!!

Compare that to Kalamalka Lake water distribution through the Mission Hill Water Treatment Plant which has

NEVER exceeded 50 per cent of allowable levels !! 

Source:  Councillor Kiss' Powerpoint presentation, page 24 of 51

I recall in the early 1970s how beige the pre-treatment plant water from Duteau Creek was.  We sent to the dry cleaner my husband's white dress shirts.  I used to daily spend an hour, walking through our 1,100 tree apple orchard with a straight pin--yes a straight pin--in hand, to tediously unplug our 8-inch microjet irrigation's risers...a "glop" of something slimy and brown was always the culprit.  Then water again sprayed in its customary 180-degree pattern (two at each tree, totalling 2,200 emitters) from the now-unplugged emitters.  Rubbing the culprit between thumb and forefinger produced a soft wood/bark thingy that resembled a sliver.

That thingy was organic material, the cause of today's health problems that originate at Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant.
Yes, it's the cause.
Because organic material led to treatment which led to the production of carcinogens.


Technical reports indicate that the four-lake system at Duteau contains a lot of organic material, especially when compared to the much lower amount of organic material contained in valley-bottom lakes (Kalamalka/Wood and Okanagan).

The more organic material there is, the more chlorination is required to treat the water.


So Duteau-sourced water needs a lot of disinfectant compared to lowland lakes.
But it's the by-product of disinfection that produces carcinogens.

Today, Duteau-sourced water contains Trihalomethanes and Haloacetic Acids, none of which were present previously.  

"Trihalomethanes are formed as a by-product predominantly when chlorine is used to disinfect water for drinking. They represent one group of chemicals generally referred to as disinfection by-products. They result from the reaction of chlorine or bromine with organic matter present in the water being treated. The THMs produced have been associated through epidemiological studies with some adverse health effects. Many governments set limits on the amount permissible in drinking water. However, trihalomethanes are only one group of many hundreds of possible disinfection by-products—the vast majority of which are not monitored—and it has not yet been clearly demonstrated which of these are the most plausible candidate for causation of these health effects." (Wikipedia link here).

"Haloacetic Acids are a common undesirable by-product of drinking water chlorination. Exposure to such disinfection by-products in drinking water has been associated with a number of health outcomes by epidemiological studies."  (Wikipedia link here).

A recent personal story will conclude this story.

But first an observation that occurred to me.

Did you ever--in a hurry--wash your hair under either the bathtub faucet or the bathroom sink?
And get a horribly strong sniff of chlorine, especially during winter months?
I have.  Lots of times.


That was a puzzle until "a little birdie" told me that residents--chiefly in East Coldstream, nearer the water treatment plant than other Vernon, Coldstream or BX residents on the same water system--were exposed to more chlorine.
Why?
Apparently because water sample readings at the waterlines' terminus had to contain "x" residual chlorine.  So more chlorine was added, exposing those nearer the water source to more chlorine, just to get the test samples to meet acceptable levels at distant testing outlets.

Approximately one-quarter of Greater Vernon Water's residents receive water from Duteau Creek, and I'm guessing that half of that one-quarter live in East Coldstream, exposed to higher-than-necessary levels of chlorine disinfection. 

OK, now for the personal story.

My husband of 44 years is hale and hearty, always has been.
Likely a result of good genes more than determination on his part, he does maintain a fully active work schedule, and has chosen not to retire from his business.
He never gets a cold or the flu, and his medium-sized frame compliments his height; no wheat-belly on him.  He does get aches and pains in his back from lifting (there's always something heavy to lift on acreage or in a business), but he's soon over that with copious self-medication of vitamins.  I don't recall that his shadow ever darkened a hospital doorway except when our daughter was born, and I would have fingers left over if I counted on one hand how many times he has gone to the doctor in all those years.

So imagine my surprise when after Christmas last month my husband complained of a "brutal headache".
I've never before heard my husband say he had a headache (he says he's never had one).

Day after day, the headache was in the same location, same side of his head.
Its pain "ebbed and flowed", but never really went away.
Then his eye on the headache side became bloodshot.
Day after day, the bloodshot eye and the pain.
Refusing to go to the doctor, he took aspirin for the pain.
He also didn't miss a day of work (likely because he owns the business...)

After approximately two weeks, he finally did attend his doctor.
Hallelujah.
The result?
Apparently a "sinus problem".

But I know it was my husband's fault.
Yes, my husband is responsible, along with Duteau Creek.
You see, he's one of those people who takes long hot showers, saying that his back muscles benefit.

So why the reference to Duteau Creek if we're talking about the husband's long showers?

Read further from Wiki:  "Some of the trihalomethanes are quite volatile and may easily vaporize into the air. This makes it possible to inhale THMs while showering, for example. The EPA, however, has determined that this exposure is minimal compared to that from consumption."  I'm thinking back to the strong chlorine smell, especially during winter (and the "residual test results" mentioned earlier), and the fact that my husband takes 15-minute (yes, alas!) showers.

My showers are four to five minutes.  Tops.
In winter, my husband's north-facing bathroom is cold, so he doesn't activate the ventilation fan.
Nor does he open the window.
Inhaling THMs...guessing that is what caused his persistent headache.
But only in this winter; during the other three seasons the bathroom window is always open.
To be fair, neither of us recall him ever having sinus issues during other years' winter months.

Don't be smug if you have short showers, you can still inhale the volatile THMs.

And swimmers in public or private chlorinated pools?  Wiki on this:  "In swimmers, uptake of trihalomethanes is greatest via the skin with dermal absorption accounting for 80% of THM uptake. Exercising in a chlorinated pool increases the toxicity of a "safe" chlorinated pool atmosphere with toxic effects of chlorine byproducts greater in young swimmers than older swimmers. Studies in adolescents have shown an inverse relationship between serum testosterone levels and the amount of time spent in public pools. Chlorination by-products have been linked as a probable cause."

Back to trihalomethane levels at Greater Vernon's water sources.

Councillor Kiss' excellent Powerpoint presentation, on page 24 of 51, compares the Trihalomethane levels of Duteau Creek and Kalamalka Lake water.  (Note:  Enlarge the page for clarity with Ctrl + (Ctrl plus sign) three or four times, afterwards reduce page size on your screen with Ctrl -  (Ctrl minus sign) three or four times).  His entire document is noteworthy, so please read it in its entirety.

Note that on page 24 the green horizontal line is the "maximum recommended acceptable level" set by government.

Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant trihalomethane levels have exceeded maximum recommended levels in every year since 1998.  That is, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 !!!!  During the same years, Kalamalka lake water distribution through the Mission Hill Water Treatment Plant saw trihalomethane levels that have NEVER exceeded 50 per cent of allowable levels !!

"Tear down Duteau, move all the equipment to Mission Hill and enlarge that treatment plant," shouts Kia.

The Duteau Creek Water Treatment Plant created more problems than it solved.

And now water officials are going to do a Protozoa study at Duteau.
The news isn't going to get any better, is it folks?

"We must not throw good money after bad," warns Kia of Greater Vernon Water's plans to accede to Interior Health's demands to filter Duteau Creek Water.

I'll spend the next month or so convincing my husband to take short showers, and open the window.
The other benefit is to save a few sheckles on the water meter!



Additional Reference:  Water Source Evaluation, commissioned by RDNO, document here.

EDIT:  Adding Councillor Kiss' most stunning revelation: 

"I maintain that the system for agriculture should return to agriculture and all allocations should be honoured. Domestic supply should be coming from Kalamalka and Okanagan Lakes. It is that simple. Had we started out from those principles we would have an unaltered VID system working without any money spent on it and we would be using Okanagan Lake without filtration like Kelowna is doing. Kelowna built the UV treatment plans in 2006-2007 for about $7 M and have no trouble at all. You can find their turbidity reading for today here. They provide it every day. Obviously, there is no need for filtration at those turbidity readings."

 Councillor Kiss certainly deserves residents' thanks...big time!