Councillor urges calm after Bridgetown water uranium spike
After a weekend of "panic" over a uranium spike in public drinking water, a councillor in an Annapolis Valley town is urging calm.
The water in Bridgetown is indeed safe for people to drink, Coun. Horace Hurlburt said.
The Municipality of the County of Annapolis initially said on its website that elevated uranium levels have been found in the water supply but that it was largely safe to drink.
As word spread, there was confusion about whether the town's water was safe to drink and many mistakenly thought it wasn't.
'Quite a stir'
"The information that went sideways is unfortunate, and I have no way of knowing what or where that came from, but it created quite a stir," Hurlburt said.
"A lot of it wasn't accurate."
Jillian Atwell, a Bridgetown resident, said there was "complete panic" among some who had been consuming the water.
As a result, Bridgetown Centennial Pool closed for the weekend and the farmer's market ran out of bottled water almost immediately Saturday morning.
Risk only with long-term chronic exposure
On Saturday morning, the municipality posted a second statement saying it was ordering a second test and repeating the water was safe to drink after all.
Hurlburt said the standard level of uranium, which occurs naturally in the area, is 20 micrograms per litre of water. The test last week showed 24 to 25 micrograms per litre.
Those levels are safe to consume and only pose a risk with long-term chronic exposure, he said. That's why the county is trying to bring those levels down.
'So vague'
That information wasn't released to the public — which added to the confusion, Atwell said.
"The whole thing is strange about why they're being so vague about the information and not letting us know what's wrong with the water," she said.
"It's just a bunch of panic throughout the town."
'Flags raised some time ago'
Atwell said she believes the water test results should be made public in the future, along with details about safe usage. She said that should be communicated not just through social media, for people without internet access.
Bridgetown does indeed do a monthly test for uranium, Hurlburt said.
"We've had flags raised some time ago that it's something that needed to be monitored a little closer than the homeowner would probably be doing," he said.
Monday's test results will be released, and are due in around noon, he said.
Dry weather may be cause
The recent dry weather may be a factor in the higher-than-normal uranium levels the town wells, Hurlburt said.
"We had a light snow base. We've had very little rain here, and the water is being drawn from deeper depths," he said.
"One has to believe, when you look at your garden and the lawn, and factor in it's so dry that a mouse can't dig into the ground, the water table has dropped considerably."
The official cause of the uranium spike in Bridgetown water is not yet known, he said.
Correction : A previous version of this story said the standard safe level of uranium is 20 milligrams (mg) per litre of water. In fact, it is 20 micrograms (μg or mcg) per litre.(Aug 15, 2016 10:04 AM)
