Prince Rupert's lead in the water woes make for talking point across Canada (and beyond)

The ongoing worries over lead in the water in homes in the community is getting some national and even North American exposure this morning.

That after an extensive report from Global News was released today that highlighted new testing that shows the scope of the ongoing issues that residents are facing.

The lengthy review of the city's water issues is highlighted by a number of residents who just don't seem to trust the city on the water situation and that's surely not a good thing for our elected municipal or provincial officials.

The focus of the report is testing conducted for Global, Star Vancouver and is part of an investigation conducted by a consortium of Canadian universities.

In one test, they took samples  from Leona Peterson's subsidized housing complex in the community, with the results indicating three times the amount of lead in the water than the marker from the Health Canada guidelines.

The samples were taken on three occasions last December, this February and again in July.

A further study of 25 homes by the investigative team found 84 percent of the homes sampled had levels of lead exceeding the federal guidelines for drinking water.

The Global story observes how that the issue is having an impact on lower income families in the community, more so than those of the middle or high income set.

The latter, two groups that perhaps can afford to install their own filtration units and take on the costly expense of replacing all their plumbing.

The Global News Report does make note of the steps the City has taken to alert residents to the issue, starting with the flyer campaign in the spring of 2018.

It also makes mention of the August video from the Mayor, which appeared rather surprisingly at the time and without much context as to why it was required other than as a reminder for the public.



However, it would seem that the video's arrival in August, came in what would have the heart of the work on the Prince Rupert water story by Global and it's partners.

The topic of lead in the water came up once again early last month, as Councillor Nick Adey inquired about how residents could find out about the status of the water in their homes, with the City's Communications Director Veronika Stewart taking the question, providing a review of some of the steps the city had taken in the past.

Though there was no mention of anything along the lines of what the Global report delivered today, the few minutes of discussion did allow for the Mayor to observe on the long range plans towards water infrastructure.

The Global report does make note of the city's plans to address some the water related issues of the community, through a water filtration plant down the road.

But for now the report has certainly served to call attention to the more immediate concerns and puts the City of Prince Rupert into the headlines, with a number of news services picking up on the story.

One report for an American audience, which reviewed the issue of lead in the water across Canada included some Prince Rupert notes and featured a headline guaranteed to catch the eye in the US as well as in Canada.

To provide for the comparison between Flint and Prince Rupert in a graphics form, Global News included the chart below as part of their report and as the residents that they interviewed noted, the results are somewhat shocking.

Flint of course became the focus for global attention when it came to government inaction on the issue of safe drinking water. With the Michigan city serving as the feature for numerous documentaries on the issue and a location where the poorest of residents suffered the most from the actions (or lack of ) of their elected officials.

And while Prince Rupert's issues as the city often reminds us are not part of the civic infrastructure, but that of the home plumbing of older residences, the headline should serve as a call for further action from our elected officials, lest that image of Flint/Rupert linger too long in anyone's mind.

In the report from Global two quotes seem to stand out more than others, the first from Health Minister Adrian Dix who observed how Northern Health and the City of Prince Rupert are “doing the right thing.”

With Mr. Dix adding how  “They can be criticized, and we can be criticized for not moving fast enough and so on, and I accept that. But specific action has been taken in the last short period, and we’ll continue to be taking it,”

Now we imagine if North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice were still a member of the opposition, as opposed to her current status as a member of John Horgan's NDP government; she might have had more than a few things to say about the issue in the Legislature when it comes to that pace of addressing the ongoing Prince Rupert water issues.

As she did when the Liberals were in charge ...

MLA Rice tests the water at local social housing units, finds levels of leas too high
North Coast MLA returns to theme of testing water for Northwest
NDP continues to make SD52 eater concerns part of Legislature debate
MLA calls for expanded testing of water in Northwest schools
MLA Rice raises School District lead levels in Legislature
Rural health themes mark lengthy exchange in Legislature between MLA Rice and Health Minister Lake
MLA Rice introduces private members bill on water testing for Schools

As for the current report released today, at least Mr. Dix had a comment.

According to Global, Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain was not quite as loquacious as the NDP cabinet minister.

While Global made note of the Mayor's video of August,  the opportunity to provide for any updated comments for the TV network on the tests or the ongoing situation in his city, appears to have been something the Mayor has chosen to take a pass on.

The new treatment plant won’t completely resolve the issues with lead, said Mayor Brain in a city video. He did not agree to an interview.

According to Global TV
Mayor Lee Brain did not agree
to an interview in regard to
their report on Prince Rupert water

You can review the full report from Global here it's lengthy, but should be read to the very end.

And then you can decide whether the Mayor's decision to not offer any comment was the right course of action or not.

The fact that the issue is apparently much wider that was previously presented, would seem to suggest that some further work is required by both levels of government to address the situation for residents in some kind of tangible way.

Whether it's providing assistance to those homeowners that may need help in dealing with the issue in their own homes; or ensuring that all residents have some kind of source of safe water for drinking.

So far, the approach of we're working on it, doesn't seem to be providing for much comfort for those that Global News contacted and spoke to the topic for their report.

While Mr. Brain may not have felt the need to discuss the topic with the media, it may be time for the him to once again address the issue with something more than a video.

Sharing some thoughts on the report from the News Services involved as well as on the testing and the results that it provides for, and perhaps offering some guidance for those that open up a faucet today and whether they can be relatively satisfied that what comes out won't be a health problem.

Some of the past notes on lead in the water in Prince Rupert can be found below

August 2019 -- Amid results of some elevated lead issues; City issues reminder for public of importance of 'flushing' of private homes and commercial buildings
May 2019 -- City of Prince Rupert/Northern Health seek volunteers for home water quality testing
April 2018 -- City of Prince Rupert and Northern Health join forces to share information on home source lead concerns in drinking water
March 2018 -- Northern Health seeks Bids for Water Quality study for Prince Rupert facilities
September 2016 -- School District 52 releases data on August water testing at Prince Rupert schools

Further notes on the study from Monday can be explored here, from the Concordia Institute for Investigative journalism.

For more notes related to the city's infrastructure issues see our archive page here, a wider look at past Council discussion themes is available from our Council Discussion archive.