Boil Water Advisory remains in effect for Rainy River

By Ken Johnston
Editor

As of Monday the Boil Water Advisory is still in effect in Rainy River.
Issued on Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 by the Northwestern Health Unit, residents were told to boil their water for at least one minute before consuming it.
Last week Bill Limerick of the NWHU told the Record the advisory was issued because of an ongoing problem with turbidity in the water at the Rainy River Water Treatment Plant. An engineer was called in last week to assess what is causing the problem and how to rectify it.
Rainy River Town Clerk Veldron Vogan told the Record Monday that the main problem is that the plant was built in the 1970s and its control mechanisms need to be upgraded. “The issue is how long filters are back washed or cleaned,” explained Vogan. “Emo’s plant is newer than ours and they can set a dial to run a process for a set length of time. Ours does not allow for that,” she added.
The engineer’s preliminary report was received by the Town on Friday and the Town Foreman, Bob Jenson, is now devising a plan and costs for it. Vogan said that, “Basically we need to have an electrician come in and upgrade the controls.”
Once Jenson has a plan in place the Town will submit it and the engineer’s report to the Ministry of Environment. If MOE is satisfied that the problem is being dealt with properly they can lift the Boil Water Advisory at their leisure. Vogan is hopeful that will happen before this week is out.
In the mean time tests on water quality continued to be done last week and Vogan said that to her knowledge nothing harmful was found in any water in the community. “They do weekly tests in the plant and the community. We would be contacted immediately if anything harmful was found.”
The public can check the Record’s website for any updates to this story as they occur. Our web address is www.RainyRiverRecord.com.