Thunder Bay plans to get the lead out

THUNDER BAY -- The City of Thunder Bay will add sodium hydroxide to the water supply by next year after a recent pilot project showed this reduces harmful levels of lead coming out of the tap. 

Thousands of city homes built before 1952 still have older lead pipes, while other homes built after that year may have lead solder at pipe joints.

Sodium hydroxide reduces the acidity of water, minimizing the corrosion of metals such as lead into the drinking water.

Lead can affect health and has the most impact on the fetus and on children under six years old.

Under direction from the Ontario government, the city previously decided on a mitigation plan that included a corrosion control study throughout last year involving hundreds of homes in a Current River neighbourhood.

The director of the city's Environment Division, Michelle Warywoda, says after the chemical was added to the water distributed to those residences, tests showed that in "a number of homes," lead levels at the tap fell to safe levels.

In some residences, she said, the level dropped "right to zero," while in others, such as those that may have longer lead service pipes, levels declined but remained above what's considered safe. 

Warywoda noted that additional laboratory tests done at the same time showed no bacteriological growth in the system as a result of adding sodium hydroxide.

"We are happy with the results and now we can go forward with our plan for city-wide addition," she told Tbnewswatch.com in an interview on Wednesday.

City officials said in 2015 that there is "a lead issue" in 8,000 homes in Thunder Bay, and that they estimate the water in 10 per cent of those homes has higher lead content than the prescribed limit.  

Warywoda and her staff are preparing a report for city council on the outcome of the pilot and an update on their plan for full implementation.

Results of the pilot will also be published on-line for public viewing.

Warywoda said a community information meeting this fall will give residents an opportunity to ask questions before the city-wide rollout.

In the meantime, under a program that's been in place for a number of years, residents who are concerned about the possibility of high lead levels in their water pipes can contact the city to request a free test.

Replacing a lead pipe is the responsibility of the property-owner within the property boundary, but the city will pay for replacing pipe between the property line and the city watermain.