New testing has found no detectable level of asbestos in Medicine Hat's drinking water, the city's utility department announced Monday. Pictured in this 2015 photo is Clarifier Unit No. 4 at the Medicine Hat Water Treatment Plant. - NEWS FILE PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
New testing has found no detectable level of asbestos in Medicine Hat’s drinking water, the city’s utility department announced Monday, weeks after national media reports highlighted the use of the known carcinogen in piping installed across the country.
Medicine Hat officials also say they consider the matter closed unless national standards are changed to require further or ongoing testing.
“Though there is no regulatory requirement that we test for asbestos in drinking water, this was a practical step to alleviate any concerns our residents may have had,” said Brad Maynes, managing director of Energy and Infrastructure.
“These results should offer comfort to residents and confidence that Medicine Hat’s water distribution system meets or exceeds all regulations in delivering safe, clean drinking water to your homes and businesses.”
Health Canada does not provide any guidance on allowable levels for asbestos in water, though its U.S. counterpart sets a maximum of 7 million fibres per litre.
The Medicine Hat samples showed water samples from six locations taken on April 11 were sent to a lab in Ohio for testing and the results showed “no detectable levels of asbestos” material in water.
Three days before testing, a council utilities committee heard testing would proceed after a segment on the national news program, W5, that the piping made from cement mixed with asbestos was common in Canada, but little to no testing was being done.
City councillors on the committee who approved the testing called the results “good news.”
Medicine Hat’s drinking water system measures more than 435 kilometres, of which 32 per cent (136 kilometres), was asbestos-concrete installed between 1960 and the early 1980s.
At that point, manufacturing with asbestos was being phased out of national standards due to inhalation risk at pipe manufacturing facilities, according to city asset director Pat Bohan.
Each year the city replaces about two kilometres of pipe infrastructure due to line breaks, but mostly older cast iron, and the strengthened cement pipe rarely causes problems, unless disturbed, according to Bohan.
All new and replacement piping installed is heavy plastic (PVC) pipe.
“We monitor the condition of our water infrastructure closely and the asbestos concrete water mains in Medicine Hat are in excellent shape,” said Bohan this week.
Another factor in Medicine Hat’s favour, he said, is the fact that tap water here is also slightly alkaline. It creates a scale coating on the inside of pipes, rather than corrode it, as would happen with slightly acidic water.
Administrators are also confident that the size of the sample is an accurate picture of the city’s total water supply.
Adminstrators also said that considering the evolution of the system, where new branches were extended from existing lines, there was virtually no community in Medicine Hat where water did not pass at points through the piping.
At the same committee meeting, administrators said wholesale replacement of the pipe, which runs beneath the city’s road network would be financially insurmountable.
