By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Council for the Town of Essex received an Environmental Services Department Report regarding “Lead in Drinking Water” at the September 16 meeting.
The Report follows a Council resolution from the May 6 meeting that supported Mayor Sherry Bondy’s motion, which directed Administration to prepare a report for information regarding lead pipes in the Town of Essex.
When presenting her motion for Council consideration a few months ago, Bondy said she sits on the Union Water Board and on the Ontario Municipal Water Association. She is learning a lot about water and wants to make sure the Town knows what is in its pipes and is doing everything possible in case there are some lead pipes out there.
“We really should have a zero-lead tolerance,” Bondy said then.
Bondy also thought about older Town-owned facilities and testing them, if they have not been done in some time.
Rob Mackie, Manager of Environmental Services, presented the findings of the “Lead in Drinking Water” report.
“Lead is a naturally-occurring metal, which was used as an acceptable plumbing material prior to 1955,” Mackie said, adding any risk of lead in drinking water comes from the corrosion of the metal from the public or private water service lines or plumbing components.
His report details that lead is more likely to be present in the plumbing systems of homes that were constructed prior to 1975, as the National Plumbing Code of Canada considered lead an acceptable material until that time.
The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Parks regulates water testing for lead. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Mackie noted the maximum allowable concentration for lead is 0.01mg/litre.
Health Canada, he added, has a guideline value for lead at 0.005mg/litre.
That is one of the lowest guidelines inhe world, Mackie stated.
Testing was made mandatory for municipal drinking water systems in 2007 under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Lead sampling began in Essex in 2008.
Between that start date and 2011, 112 lead samples were taken from Essex’s distribution system. Of those, one sample – taken in 2008 – exceeded the 0.01mg/litre threshold.
“Through this rigorous sampling plan, the Town of Essex became exempt from the lead testing as required under the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Mackie said. “However, we are still required to sample for lead from our distribution system.”
That sampling happens once every three-years, in both the summer and winter months of that year. The last time this took place was in July of 2023.
Samples taken ranged from 0.00015 to 0.00044mg/litre, well below requirements.
Sampling will again occur in 2026.
Records of Town-owned water services constructed prior to 1955 show there should not be any existing lead services within the Town-owned water distribution system, as those areas have been replaced during capital replacement projects.
If a town-owned water service is discovered to be lead, Town staff will investigate if the private-property service is lead as well, Mackie explained. He added that written notification is always provided to the property owners of the findings, as well as an information package from Health Canada.
The Environmental Services Department only replaces the Town-owned portion of a lead water line. The private-property owner would be responsible for their portion, but would have the opportunity to utilize the site contractor for additional savings.
Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley asked if records of notifying residents of lead discovered are kept and passed on to a new owner of the home in the future if the lead components are not changed on privately-owned property.
Mackie noted that information is logged with the Infrastructure Services. He was not sure if that information is passed on to new property-owners, but that is something that could be looked into.
In responding to Bondy’s question on when the last time a lead pipe was found in the Town-owned water distribution system, Mackie noted that was in 2022 regarding a service line on Irwin Avenue. It was replaced. The Town does find lead in private-property services from time-to-time.
Bondy thanked Mackie for the report.
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