If you think your tap water smells or tastes funny, you’re not alone.
The Town of Athabasca and the Village of Boyle have both received complaints about the water over the past few weeks, prompting the Aspen Regional Water Services Commission to ensure that the chemical formulation between the ammonia and chlorine from the chloramination process is accurate.
That formulation is checked regularly already, according to Gary Buchanan, acting chief administrative officer of the commission.
“The key thing is that there is no health or safety issue here,” he said. “We tested the water with the local health authorities and it’s well within the parameters that the commission needs to abide by. It might just take some tweaking to reduce the smell.”
Another possible cause is a buildup of sediment in the pipes.
Town of Athabasca chief administrative officer Ryan Maier said the town will do what is necessary to fix the problem.
“If it is something like a sediment problem in the pipes and extra flushing is needed to correct it, then that’s what we’ll do,” he said. “Once we are advised by the commission how to proceed, if the town needs to make future measures, we will do whatever it takes and whatever is needed to rectify the problem.”
Don Radmanovich, Mayor of Boyle, said he has also received complaints about the water.
“Just the last couple of weeks it has been tasting muddy,” he said. “I’ve had probably four or five different people who have said the same thing.”
Both Paula Evans and Lionel Cherniwchan are town councillors for Athabasca, and sit on the water commission board.They have heard several complaints about the water, and said the issue should have been communicated better to residents.
“The water smelled like swamp, and it had been going on for quite a long time,” Evans said.
Both Cherniwchan and Evans were surprised no information was released to the public.
“No one was saying anything to the public,” she said. “People were concerned that it was a health issue.”
Evans said she knows the water has been tested.
“I know that they have tested at various points in town, and I’m pretty relaxed that it’s not a health issue,” she said.
Cherniwchan said he would like to see a complaint line set up in the future so people can report similar issues.
