Water.ca - The Water Chronicles

July 30, 2010

The right to know

Our recent guide to Drinking Water in Canada looked into online drinking water information in each province; our conclusion was that while most provinces meet or exceed the rather outdated Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, most require certified operators and regular monitoring of water quality, none extends this transparency to immediate public reporting of water quality incidents. The information is gathered, input in databases and circulated internally to the proper authorities but there is a log jam at the public door.

Sure there are aggregated provincial boil water advisory reports and in some provinces they are updated regularly, but in others only weekly or even quarterly, and in a few provinces you are lucky if you can find them at all. So if there is a boil water advisory in your area, the first ones to know will probably be your local media, unless notices were delivered door-to-door as is often the case in smaller communities. But what if you did not tune in to the right station, read the right paper or find the notice on your doorstep or mailbox?

There is no national real-time database to check the quality of your water, nor is your province liable to have the information you need until a day or so later; if it’s a weekend or holiday, just forget about it, the whole online reporting system comes to a standstill.

There is also a generalized reticence to report boil water advisories on a wider basis. Our efforts to get water.ca added to regional media lists in each province were either totally ignored or met with straight-on refusals. On the whole we were told that there are rules, procedures and that adding names to the list makes the whole thing unmanageable.

This may be, but since this very same information will be made available within days or weeks, what is the justification for delaying its release? While there are inevitable liability and insurance considerations, not to mention the legitimate fear of spreading unconfirmed water contamination news, we suspect that in most cases it also comes down to the less people know the easier it is to manage; in other words, no public knowledge, no public panic.

But is this not underestimating the judgment capabilities of ‘ordinary Canadians’? Where do we draw the line between the public’s right to know and the political need to micro-manage releasing vital information? This is the very same mentality that led the current financial disaster.

We suggest that this piecemeal release of information is a sure recipe for failed communications with the dire consequences it may entail. We also propose that transparent public information leads to increased public trust.

Quotes
"I would have preferred to have known just as soon as they knew there was even a potential problem," said Pembroke, MA resident Susan Driscoll. "I would not have taken a drink of water if I thought there was even the chance of E. coli being in it. I think most people would want to know exactly what is going on, and have the chance to decide for themselves." - 5/8/08 - Patriot Ledger, MA

In Brighton, Wilfred Bartlett reports an Aug. 14 boil order wasn't even aired on the local radio. Instead the notice to rigorously boil water for one minute was posted on bulletin boards in local stores. He said for people who didn't regularly go to those places, they would have no knowledge the water wasn't fit to drink. "The boil order was on several days before I knew anything about it," he wrote in a letter. - 9/12/08 - The Norwester, NL

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	Public Reporting REPORT CARD This report card rates online accessibility (A), punctuality (P) and information quality (I). We judged accessibility by Googling boil water advisories followed by each province’s name. Punctuality is based on the delay between the placement of a BWA and its posting on a public website. Quality of Information rates ease of use, and information about source of water and cause of advisory. British Columbia A=A P=C I=C- BWAs are posted on Public Health Sites Northern, Coastal and Fraser update regularly, we are told within 12 to 72 hours. The information is easy to find. Most BWAs happen in the Interior whose website is only updated quarterly. No details are given as to cause of advisories or source of water. Each Health Units has its own list, there are no aggregate reports. Alberta A=F P=F I=F Does not post any BWAs online. Water advisories refer to streamflow, floods and ice jams. There is no aggregate site, information regarding water advisories is hard to find in most Health Authorities websites except for Chinook Manitoba A=A P=B- I=C Manitoba monitors public, semi-public and private Water systems. We are told BWAs are posted as soon as they occur, although there have been instances where delays in reporting of up to 10 days were noted (Ex:Manigotagan Public Water System, issued 9/2/08 posted 9/12/08). No causes are listed. Saskatchewan A=A P=A* and C-** I=A- Bwas are listed as they occur with very little delay for municipal waterworks and privately owned (publicly accessible) waterworks that have a flow rate of 18,000 litres or more per day. There can be long delays for for semi-private waterworks that have a flow of less than 18,000 litres per day. Source of water is not listed. Causes are detailed. All BWAs appear on one report. Ontario* A=F P=F I=F The province stopped posting BWAs on a central site. If you Google Ontario Boil Water Advisories nothing shows up for the first 4 pages. If you Google Adverse Water Incidents a link appears on the first page that connects you to 5 Regional Reports which have not been updated since April 11, 2008. On Regional Health Units websites this information is often very hard to find if it exists. Media is the only way to find out where there are BWAs Quebec A=A (F if you search in English) P=B I=C Googling in English does not bring any results; in French the boil water advisories appear at top of search. However as the reverse would be true in most other provinces, it does not affect our overall rating. BWAs are posted online within a few days by region although some regions, such as North Quebec, don’t report or have never had a water quality issue. There are 17 regional lists, no aggregate report. Water system numbers are listed but not cause of advisory. Some BWAs are reported in the media before being posted online (Chateauguay), others such as the recent one in Gatineau was reported and rescinded in the media, while another Gatineau BWA, whcih affected 10,500 users, was listed on the web for a month but not mentioned in the media. Go figure. New Brunswick A=F P=B I=B Googling does not display any provincial website. The only option is to Google New Brunswick government and search the site. Bwas are posted on a central site with little delay. Although the low number of reported BWAs is suspicious considering the repeated water advisories that occured in St. John. These were reported in the media before they were posted online. Source of water is not listed but cause of advisory is. Nova Scotia A=C P=C I=C Googling brings up a Press release announcing that BWAs will be posted online at top of first page. However, there is no link to the list and you must search the site to find it. Nova Scotia publishes a province-wide report every week or sometimes two weeks. There is a separate report for municipalities. No details are given as to source of water or cause of advisory. Prince Edward Island A=F P=F I=F There is no public reporting of water advisories online or else the province never has them. Nitrate is a bigger problem in PEI. Newfoundland A=A P=A< I=A The province has many BWAs and reports them all in one report as they happen with source of water and cause of advisory. North West Territories A=A< P=C- I=B NWT has an excellent database, it is easy to find and lists the source of water and cause of advisories. There have too few BWAs in the NWT to accurately assess punctuality as well as the number of water quality incidents that go unreported. Nunavut A=F P=F I=F Nunavut has yet to set up an online list of boil water advisories. Yukon A=F< P=F I=F Yukon does not post advisories online First Nations (Health Canada) A=A P=F I=F Googling First nations boil water advisories brings up Health Canada in first place. The department explains what to do in case of BWAs but does not list communities affected by water contamination. It only published the number of advisories there are in First Nations Communities.