Sault Ste. Marie PUC President and CEO Dominic Parrella has delivered an apology on behalf of the local utility company regarding its handling of customer calls in a recent east end brown water incident, and also stated that a solution to ongoing problems with the taste, odour and colour of the city’s tap water will be brought forward in 2014.
Parrella’s comments came at Monday night’s regular City Council meeting, in the presence of Mayor Debbie Amaroso, City Councillors and staff, as well as a gallery filled with dissatisfied PUC customers.
Parrella’s appearance before Council Monday came after a November 20 incident in which east end homes experienced yet another brown water incident, with many PUC ratepayers finding their taps, tubs and toilets filled with discoloured water.
The PUC has stated that particular incident can be traced to a malfunction at a fire hydrant on Algoma University property.
Resident Skye Burke sent an open letter of complaint regarding the situation to SooToday.com, published November 24.
Burke appeared with other PUC ratepayers at Council’s Monday meeting.
Burke addressed Council and repeated her frustration with not only the taste, odour and colour of her tap water, but also with what she felt was an inadequate PUC customer service response to her November 20 telephone call to the local utility, in which she reported a brown water incident at her home.
Burke told Council: “I’m simply asking the PUC to be community-minded, through better water, customer service and communication.”
Parrella said he realized the PUC needs to do better, and apologized to PUC customers for ongoing water problems (especially brown water events) and for how long it took for the PUC to respond to customer service calls November 20.
“We weren’t equipped for the more than 300 calls that came in November 20…we provided a very poor response to those people in failing to meet those needs,” stating that new telephone technology will be able to handle 500 customer service calls.
Speaking to SooToday.com, Parrella said: “Communication was a problem with our after-hours calls.”
“In the short term, when we see a sudden barrage of calls, we will bring in additional staff to get back to customers in a reasonable amount of time.”
“If 300 or so calls come in, we’ll do our best to get back before the night is over.”
“Currently our after-hours customer service line has only one person on…we’ll call out additional staff to respond depending on what the situation is.”
The PUC has stated the brown water is caused by its flushing of sediment from aging watermains throughout the city, improper use of fire hydrants, or work done at construction sites, all of which can all lead to brown water incidents.
Parrella said there have always been brown water incidents, but said: “It is true that since the PUC’s switch to free chlorine in the water in 2011, the frequency of brown water incidents has increased greatly, and so has the size of the area involved.”
To completely flush the hundreds of kilometres of water pipe running under city streets will take a few more years.
Parrella was accompanied by Chris Kresin of Kresin Engineering in his comments to Council.
Kresin is working with the PUC on a Water Quality Optimization Strategy.
Both men told Council and PUC customers a strategy to correct taste, odour and colour issues with Sault Ste. Marie’s water is being worked on.
Speaking to SooToday.com after his presentation, Parrella told us: “We are in the final stages of the study which is aimed at a long-term solution to all three problems, the taste, the odour and brown water.”
A Steering Committee is currently in place and at work on the water issues, consisting of the PUC’s own staff, Algoma Public Health, senior local Ministry of the Environment (MOE) officials, City Councillors and members of the public.
“We’re going to have an answer in January based on the input from experts in this field,” Parrella told us, though he could not commit to how long it would take to actually fix the water problems.
Depending on which solution is chosen, correction of the water's taste, odour and colour could take at least two years, or perhaps three or four years.
Parrella said: “(The solution) will be taken from test results identifying all possible causes and solutions…the Committee will narrow it down to two or three possible solutions, then narrow it down to the best possible solution.”
Ward Six City Councillor Joe Krmpotich asked Parrella if PUC customers who have had their laundry and appliances stained by discoloured water could expect compensation.
That would not be feasible, Parrella said.
Parrella told us: “Customers who have had brown water should run their taps for 10 minutes.”
“The cost of flushing your kitchen tap for 10 minutes amounts to four cents.”
“It would cost us more in administrative costs than it would in direct reimbursement.”
However, Parrella added: “If a customer’s clothing is ruined (by brown water) and cannot be recleaned, a customer is encouraged to file a claim with us, but generally speaking we can provide a product that works quite well in removing rust coloured stains in clothing and appliances, a product not available on the shelf.”
Ward One City Councillors Steve Butland and Paul Christian, who represent the area in which most brown water incidents have occurred, each commented that they and their constituents have been frustrated but were encouraged by the PUC’s acknowledgement that there is a problem that must be rectified sooner than later.
“We look forward to seeing you in the New Year,” Mayor Debbie Amaroso told Parrella.
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