Hundreds of Quebecers still don’t have access to clean drinking water in several municipalities.
Problems with their water supply systems have left some people unable to drink their tap water for nearly a quarter of a century, according to the Fédération québécoise des municipalités (FQM).
“The water is rather yellowish, which is why we have to solve this problem,” said Normand Bergeron, mayor of Laverlochère-Angliers, a municipality in the Témiscamingue region in western Quebec.
He says that part of his municipality has had drinking water quality problems for at least 15 years.
Some residents have to boil tap water before drinking it, or buy bottled water.
“The water comes from the river and it’s not drinkable. There can be all sorts of things in it,” Bergeron said.
A boil water advisory has been in effect since 2009 in the small village of Angliers, where around 180 people have to deal with this issue.
More than 20 municipalities have water quality problems, according to data from Quebec’s Environment Ministry. Although the situation has improved in some places in recent years, it remains a cause for concern for many elected municipal officials.
“We have a record. We’ve been boiling our water for 24 years. An unenviable record,” said Yves Sohier, mayor of La Martre in Gaspésie.
Sohier says residents of his municipality have not had access to drinking water since August 2000, due to the dilapidated state of the water system and numerous breaks.
“People pay a water tax and they don’t have drinking water,” he said, adding that some pipes are over 60 years old.
“When there are heavy rains, the water can change colour and turn brown… I can guarantee you that there is a lot of bottled water being bought in the village.”
Solutions on the way, mayors say
Sohier says the water quality problems have hindered the development of his municipality, saying people who were considering moving to the village gave up due to the issues.
However, he says the situation is about to change and work to replace the municipality’s aqueduct should begin next year.
“I’ve been working on this for 11 years. We should be putting out a call for tenders this fall and work will start in the spring,” said Sohier.
The cost of the new water system is estimated at about $11 million.
Bergeron, for his part, says the municipality of Laverlochère-Angliers will install water treatment equipment in homes and businesses in the village of Angliers. He says a pilot project will soon be carried out in a number of homes to test the system’s reliability.
“We’ll be installing four devices in four homes, and the government will continue to test whether the devices are working and whether the water is safe to drink. If it’s safe, we’ll install them in every house in the village,” he said. The cost of the project is estimated at around $2 million.
Jacques Demers, president of the FQM, says some municipalities have even begun to limit new construction on their territory because of the lack of drinking water.
“We know it’s more sensitive than it’s ever been. We now know that the water table in some places is too low and that we can’t afford … to continue building,” he said, adding that the cost of drinking water infrastructure and the recruitment of qualified personnel also represent a challenge for smaller municipalities.
The Quebec government has set up the Municipal Water Infrastructure Program, which is designed to support the construction, rehabilitation and expansion of municipal drinking water and wastewater infrastructures.
The program has a budget of nearly $2.4 billion over five years.