Water and sewer pipes are see stockpiled in this 2013 file photo. The City of Medicine Hat is responding to a national news report that stated one-third of the local drinking water system was constructed during the 1960s when concrete was reinforced with asbestos fibre.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Several city councillors tell the News they want a full briefing on the city’s drinking water system after a national news report stated Medicine Hat has a high percentage of concrete pipes that contain asbestos.
The investigation on the CTV investigative program W5 states one-third of the city’s distribution system was built when concrete pipe was strengthened with fibres of the material now known as a carcinogen.
City utility staff issued a statement and information page on the subject late Monday.
“The most important thing for our residents to know is that Medicine Hat’s water distribution system meets or exceeds all regulations in delivering safe, clean drinking water to residents,” said Pat Bohan, director of city assets (infrastructure).
An accompanying information page states the city’s water testing guidelines follow the regulations set by Health Canada – an agency that does not consider ingesting asbestos to be a definitively proven health risk.
About 140 kilometres of the city’s 460-km potable water piping system is concrete pipe that contains asbestos, according to city officials. Most was installed between 1960 and the early 1970s, and the last piece of the specific type of pipe was laid in 1981.
Since then PVC heavy plastic pipe became the dominant material, and the remainder is either steel, cast-iron or “pressure concrete.”
The current practice in Medicine Hat is to replace concrete pipe with PVC when it is exposed, or during scheduled a replacement program that modernizes portions of the system each year.
Since 2014, the city’s utility department has spent about $5 million or more annually to replace pipe that is considered at the end of life.
Asbestos is well known as a cancer-causing agent when inhaled, but Health Canada states on an information page regarding asbestos that “there’s no consistent, convincing evidence that asbestos ingested through drinking water is harmful to your health.”
As such, it states, there are no established any guidelines regarding ingestion.
In 2014, the European Union found asbestos was leaching into drinking water as pipes deteriorated, especially during breakages in earthquake-prone areas, such as Italy.
The recent Canadian report states a number of major cities contacted by reporters, including Edmonton, Regina, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Toronto, reported substantial portions of underground systems include asbestos concrete pipe.
The figures cited in the CTV report for Medicine Hat appear to be incorrect. It stated 14 kilometres of such pipe is in Medicine Hat, which it said comprises about one-third the entire system.
In actuality the local potable water system measures more than 450 km, but city officials estimate 139 km of pipe could be asbestos-concrete, which would result in the same percentage.
