UPDATE: Overview to date on the water situation in the Newcastle Water System

Public Works Director Jay Shanahan made the following presentation at the Regular Council Meeting on April 16, 2024. It is a timeline of what has occurred in the Newcastle Water System and what needs to be done to rectify the situation.

Wednesday, April 10

·         At approximately 10 a.m. an alarm was set off at the water treatment plant indicating a problem with the plant’s operation.
·         Staff checked the water to the plant and the turbidity was really high indicating an issue with the water transmission supply lines or possible one of the wells.
·         Staff isolated the high and low systems at the time to minimize the impact in the 2 zones.
·         Staff under the direction of the Department of Health installed flushing vales throughout the system to monitor turbidity and chlorine and carried out low volume flushing.
·         Staff contacted Department of Health again on the issue and at that time DOH wanted a boil order issued as the disinfection process may not be working effectively.
·         Staff immediately started to check for the problem.
·         Wells in the Beaver Brook Road area were checked and then the transmission line was tested, and it was found that the transmission line between Beaver Brook Road and Lawlor lane had a break.

Thursday, April 11

·         With the problem area isolated the transmission line was flushed from 3 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. The flushing of this line helped clear the water to the WTP.
·         Throughout the day the flushing valves were monitored for turbidity and chlorine and remained flushing these sites were visited hourly and testing carried out to help monitor the system.
·         The water coming to the plant was back to its original condition and pumping into the system.
·         Testing was being carried out continuously throughout the day and into the night there was improvement in the turbidity and chlorine levels. Normal operating level were being met by late Thursday evening.
·         The water treatment plant remained stable and was being operated by the staff.

Friday, April 12

·         Testing and flushing remained in place the entire day and the test where within the allowable limits.
·         Throughout the day staff had been meeting with DOH and City staff were told once the testing was in the allowable limits sampling could start. By 8:00 p.m. staff reviewed the testing, and all sites were within the allowable limits and DOH was contacted. Approval was given the start to take samples in the system to be send to the lab.
·         First set of samples were taken and completed at 9:30 p.m. They were stored to be transported in the morning to the lab.

Saturday April 13

·         Staff remained on site for most of the night and tested continuously to ensure the system remained stable.
·         Second samples were taken and delivered to the lab in Moncton by 2:30 p.m.
·         The test carried out as per sampling were for E. Coli and total coliforms. A total 24 samples were taken throughout the Newcastle System.
·         Staff monitored and tested the flushing areas for the entire day.

Sunday April 14  

·         Staff remained onsite carrying out testing of the flushing areas for the entire day.
·       At 1:30 p.m. on Sunday the lab reports were received, and all 24 samples were clear. The DOH was notified, and the boil order was lifted.

 Monday April 15

·         Sampling and testing were still be carried out and all sites were operating within the allowable limits. At 3 p.m. the WTP operation was put back to normal operation that allows the plant to run by the demand and is operated automatically by the Scada system.
 ·         During this time the dirty water started to appear in the high zone of the system.  Staff started to add additional flushing value throughout the system and the system was not improving.  During this time a large volume of water used in the system and added to problem. 
 ·         The DOH was contacted, and a boil order was issued for the high side of the system.  ·         Flushing and testing were carried out throughout the night and by early morning there were still reports of dirty water although most areas returned to normal.

Tuesday April 16  

·         Staff reviewed the testing from overnight and made some location changes to the flushing valves.  
·         At 10:30 a.m. staff met with DOH and explained the situation. They where not surprised that we had an issue as it they said it was to be expected and that the system test had passed so there was no bacteria in the system the water was discoloured and to be expected.
·         At 11 a.m. staff had a web meeting with Mike Chaulk, process Engineering manager for CBCL Halifax who is a highly regarded professional in water treatment and water quality.
·         The situation was explained and what was carried out to date, and he had several suggestions to help correcting the situation. What we have done to date was exactly what he would propose and some additional suggestions were made to help resolve the issue moving forward.

1)      The water treatment plant needs to be flushed thoroughly.
2)      The present WTP cannot remove the particulates (Iron, Manganese) that was caused by the transmission line break.   
3)      Once the flushing of the transmission line is completed and the plant is back to normal operation then we move to flush the entire system.
4)      The supply lines need to be flushed thoroughly this could take up to 7 to 10 days to flush the entire system. 
5)       until the flushing is completed dirty water may occur due to flows changes in the system.

Moving Forward for the next 7 to 10 days

·         Flushing of the Water treatment plant ASAP.
·         Continuous monitoring and flushing in the system until uni-directional flushing is completed.
·         Uni-directional flushing planned to start Saturday, April 20, 2024.
·         Uni- directional flushing will take 7 days to complete.
·         Residences may experience occasional dirty water till flushing is completed.
·         It is impossible to predict when the dirty water may occur due to the demand in the system.
·         Water is sampled and tested and once clear mean it is free of coliforms and E- coli although the colour is not pleasing the water is still safe.

The Public Works Department apologizes for the inconvenience. Staff is working to correct this situation as quickly as possible.