MORE KITCHENER WELLS & PROBLEMS

The Strange St. Well System is the oldest wellfield in Kitchener. It consists of wells K10A, K11A, K13, K18 and K19 sort of. At one time there were also wells K12 and K17 but they are long gone. I posted about them and the list of industrial solvents in them back on June 25, 2010. Wells K13, K18 and K19 were offline for all of 2015. We were advised of some minor construction and upgrades and are left to assume that that may be why these three wells were shut done all year. When one goes back to the 2014 Annual Report these same three wells were shut down again for the whole year although apparently with more serious construction. Other than high Sodium readings (71.5 mg/l) and a few high Chloramine readings albeit below the maximun allowed, these wells or at least K10A and K11A seem reasonably O.K..

The Woolner Wellfield consists of three river infiltration wells known as K80, K81 and K82. They are located downstream from the long closed Forwell and Pompeii Systems, also river infiltration wells beside the Grand River downgradient from Safety-Kleen in Breslau. The Woolner wellfield has had problems with odours and algae possibly influenced by phenols in the river from most likely the Safety-Kleen site. These three wells, K80-K82 were closed down all of 2015. What the 2015 Annual Report doesn't tell us is that they've been closed for the last five years. What it also doesn't tell us is that either river water directly or groundwater from river infiltration wells are inherently more expensive and difficult to treat for human consumption.

The Mannheim Water Treatment Plant receives raw water from the Grand River, treats it and mixes it with groundwater from at least seven wells namely K91, K92, K93, K94, K21, K25 and K29. The Mannheim Village wells and Shingletown Wells can also indirectly supply the Mannheim Pumping Station Reservoir. I had earlier suggested that the Middleton Wellfield in Cambridge was the most expensive water in the Region of Waterloo. Well in 2014 Mannheim cost taxpayers close to $4 million in maintenance, parts and upgrades. 2015 was less "reasonable" at just shy of $9 million. Holy God is this system producing magic water that is the fountain of youth or what?

The what I have to suspect is the bacteria levels in the river. In 2014 raw river water samples had maximum Total Coliform levels of 370,000 with E.Coli maximum counts at 5,800. In 2015 the raw water had a lower maximum Total Coliform count of 75,000 but E.Coli hit a count of 5,900. I don't know how the Grand River compares with other surface water bodies but I do know how it compares with groundwater and that can only be described as terribly bad. The treatment of this water is out of this world. Indeed the treated water results are good in regards to chemicals and bacteria but at what a cost. This cost is not only dollars but in by-products of the massive disinfection of the water. Both chloramines and Trihalomethanes are in the treated water in our taps. Perhaps groundwater is used to improve the taste of the treated river water. Keep in mind the THMs and chloramines are legal but I don't believe that that means they are healthy.