PUC down to 'one or two' water complaints a week

The Sault Ste. Marie PUC’s water quality improvement project is proceeding “very well,” said Dominic Parrella, PUC president and CEO, speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s PUC board of directors meeting.

Stage One of the project is almost complete.

“We’re still implementing the final treatment process to adjust the pH level at the water treatment plant.”

“Basically at this point we’re monitoring the system as the pipes adjust to the new treatment processes, monitoring calls from customers, and assessing towards the end of the year whether or not we’ll need to go to Stage Two (of the water quality improvement project), and part of that will be a water quality survey of customers conducted by Ipsos Reid, probably in November of this year,” Parrella said.

The PUC president said there have been “very, very few” complaints from customers regarding water quality since the utility took measures to address issues with water odour, taste and colour.

“There are no more than one or two complaints a week about taste and odour.  There have been a few brown water calls but they have been linked to water main breaks, and certainly any time we have a water main break it’s such a drastic impact on the system we can expect brown water at that point,” Parrella said.     

A variety of topics were discussed and increases in fees for certain water services were approved at Wednesday’s meeting.

The board approved a number of adjustments to rates charged for installing water mains, installing water service lines and providing miscellaneous services.

None of the adjustments, however, affect the monthly water bill for residential PUC customers.

“They’re specific to land development and new connections,” Parrella said.

The PUC will soon be installing new water mains on streets being reconstructed by the city for the 2015 construction season.

Those streets are Upton Road, Kensington Street, McMeeken Street, Elizabeth Street, Huron Street and John Street, subject to change depending on budget approval and availability of resources.

It was also confirmed at Wednesday’s board meeting that PUC customers pay a relatively low price for electricity, compared to customers elsewhere in Northern Ontario and across the rest of the province.

“We’re the third or fourth lowest in the province again for 2014 and there’ll be very little in the way of change in rates for 2015,” said Terry Greco, PUC vice president of finance and treasurer.

The average 800 kWh monthly bill for 2014 was $113.34.

Another item for discussion at Wednesday’s meeting concerned the number of water main breaks in the Sault, which typically goes up during the cold winter months.

“This winter that we’re just coming out of, it wasn’t as bad for water main breaks,” Parrella said.

“It was a more typical winter.”

As of Wednesday, 81 water main breaks had been reported, despite some extremely cold weather experienced in the Sault in the 2014-2015 winter.

The PUC counts water main breaks over a 12-month period, from November 1 to October 31.

2013-2014 was the second worst year for water main breaks, at 171.

The worst year was 2002-2003, at 191.