Provincial regulators want the City of Flin Flon to publish its latest drinking water data as soon as possible after the municipality missed a reporting deadline by nearly a year.
Under Manitoba law, the city had until March 31, 2014 to publish the results of mandatory water tests conducted throughout 2013.
But as of March 19, 2015 (last Thursday), the 2013 data had not been made available to the public. The city expected the data to be published online soon.
“We have asked the City of Flin Flon to post the 2013 report as soon as possible,” a provincial spokesperson told The Reminder.
The spokesperson said the province has confirmed the city has drafted both its 2013 and 2014 water quality reports.
Mark Kolt, chief administrative officer for the city, said the cause of the 2013 delay rests partially with the province.
“Part of the issue was that there was a component part of the report which in previous years had been reviewed by the province before we posted our final report,” Kolt said at last week’s city council meeting. “The province didn’t get around to even starting to look at that component part until sometime in August [2014]. They didn’t report back for some months after that.”
Kolt admitted he was “a little surprised” the 2013 data had yet to be posted on the city’s website. He said he had “been assured at various points that it was going up in a few days.”
Kolt said the report’s completion had been assigned to a city employee “who is juggling a lot of things right now.”
When asked whether the report is ready to go online if the city can find the resources to post it, Kolt agreed it was.
The 2013 report will mark the first time the city has issued a public water quality report since its multimillion-dollar water treatment plant was commissioned in August 2013.
Neither Kolt nor any member of city council had seen the report last week, but Kolt said that “if there was something wrong, we’d be under a boil-water advisory.”
The provincial spokesperson confirmed there were no “significant water quality issues” observed in Flin Flon in 2013, though the city did encounter a technical difficulty.
“Chlorine levels leaving the water plant were low on a few days but this did not compromise the safety of the water supply. Chlorine levels throughout the distribution system were satisfactory at all times,” said the spokesperson.
“The city was not able report turbidity [a measure of water clarity] from the online meters initially, but this problem was resolved. Turbidity results have since been submitted and the city was fully compliant with the standard.”
The Reminder began corresponding with the province about Flin Flon’s missing 2013 report in January of 2015.
At that time, a spokesperson for the provincial Office of Drinking Water said the department was aware the city was behind in its reporting and it was “working cooperatively” with the municipality to rectify the situation.
“We have advised the [City] of Flin Flon not to wait for any correspondence from us in order to complete and submit the 2013 report,” the Office of Drinking Water spokesperson said.
Failure to submit an annual water quality report technically places municipalities in non-compliance with their water system operating license. They can then be subject to enforcement action, though discretion is used.
The provincial spokesperson said the city’s 2014 water report should be posted online shortly. If that report is not online by March 31, the Office of Drinking Water says it will take enforcement action.
On an annual basis, Flin Flon’s drinking water repeatedly failed to meet all provincial health standards in the lead-up to 2013.
Those worrisome test results were the reason the province mandated the city to build the water treatment plant, which at last report cost $15.2 million.
In response to questions from The Reminder, Mayor Cal Huntley pledged at last week’s council meeting to provide further information on the situation.
Provincial legislation requires all public water systems serving 1,000 or more people to annually report on water quality.
