New technology on tap to clear Casselman's murky water, mayor says

The mayor of Casselman, Ont., says she'd like to see a permanent solution to the community's water problems, but says for now a new pilot project will have to do.

For years, the community's drinking water has seen rising levels of the trace mineral manganese during the spring and summer months.

Manganese gives water a brown colour, making it unappealing to drink and discolouring laundry and pipes.

The problem in Casselman has been getting worse as the water source, the South Nation River, is releasing higher levels of the easily soluble mineral. Despite assurances by authorities of the water's potability, residents have told CBC Ottawa it's like drinking what looks like swamp water.

"This historical high I believe has happened twice in the past 10 years," Casselman Mayor Geneviève Lajoie told CBC's Ottawa Morning on Tuesday.

"But I do anticipate it's going to increase in frequency because of climate change, and our water sources are just drying up. Also with this really warm winter, we don't have ice that will melt to slow down the process here."

Lajoie said the ultimate solution would be to tap into nearby Clarence Rockland's water supply, which comes from the Ottawa River, but the cost of doing that is estimated in the tens of millions of dollars — and rising.

So for now, the community is embarking on a pilot project to change the way it treats its water, Lajoie said.

"The current chemicals are not treating the water [in summer] as well as we could. It's also done manually, so we don't have technology that's monitoring it on an ongoing basis and treating it as it's coming through," she explained.

'Anything's possible'

Enter water engineer Bill Dallala, who presented both a study and a plan to Casselman town council in September.

According to Lajoie, Dallala proposed using technology to treat the water as it enters the system rather than manually testing it.

"So the treatment will occur more quickly," said Lajoie, who hopes residents will see an improvement come spring when the pilot kicks in.

Casselman Mayor Geneviève Lajoie, centre, speaks to supporters after being elected on Oct. 24, 2022. (Emmanuelle Poisson/Radio-Canada)

Dallala's approach will be to install a chlorine dioxide generator to act as an oxidizer that will more quickly disinfect and reduce "turbidity levels," according to his report.

Dallala's work has been done in conjunction with the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA), the provincial authority that operates and maintains Casselman's water and waste water treatment facility.

Lajoie is also promising to come up with an effective communication plan to keep residents informed of any developments, good or bad.

Ultimately, she wants the province to come through with enough funding to pipe in a different source of drinking water.

"Anything's possible. I'm determined to solve this problem and find a solution for the long term," Lajoie said.