EPCOR is trying to stay ahead of anticipated changes from Health Canada on acceptable levels of lead in drinking water.
During its annual waste water update and plan, EPCOR provided its lead testing findings to the city’s Utility Committee. Samples taken between 2015-2018 found about a 1,000 homes with lead services lines and 13 per cent of other homes that may not pass a 5ug/L limit. That’s about 30,000 homes in new and old Edmonton neighbourhoods that could be impacted.
They expect the maximum acceptable level will go from 10 µg/L to 5 µg/L.
Despite these findings, EPCOR maintains drinking water is safe.
This past summer the utility company completed a pilot project to completely replace public and private lead service lines at eight homes. This was done to test replacement methods and give the utility company a better idea of costs.
Other steps the company is taking include adding “orthophosphate” to the water supply and another pilot project to test the effectiveness of installing under the counter filters in homes with lead services lines.
Health Canada is expected to release its lead in drinking water guidelines in late 2018 or early 2019.
