Woodlands County water quality is in good hands.
That was the consensus of Woodlands County councillors after hearing from utilities technician Brendan Payne on July 9.
Every month during one of the county’s regular council meetings, it is a tradition that a member of the county staff introduces himself or herself to council and tells them about what they do for county ratepayers.
On July 19, in Whitecourt it was Payne’s turn, who has worked for the municipality for the last year.
William Lacasse, director of infrastructure services for the county, introduced Payne by calling the utility/water technicians the unsung heroes of the county.
“These are the guys that are out there on the weekends and at all times, day or night. If something happens to the water or sewer treatment systems, they are the ones that ensures everything is safe,” he said.
Lacasse added that to be a water technician they must have a licence from Alberta Environment and Parks, noting Payne not only has those qualifications, but also recently earned his Level 1 wastewater collection licence.
This addition allows Payne to keep tabs on the water quality at the county’s splash park in Blue Ridge.
“Basically our job (Payne works with one other utility/water technician) is to monitor the water quality from the Whitecourt Airport, Blue Ridge and Fort Assiniboine as well as the water treatment plant and ensure good quality of drinking water for our residents,” Payne said.
Fort Assiniboine Coun. Dale Kluin asked if there was any way the county could help reduce the necessity of those late night calls.
He said as a firefighter in the hamlet, they often get called out to fires at all hours and when firefighters tap into the county’s water system he is sure it must trigger an alarm.
“Can we change the system so when we tap into a fire hydrant and start using great quantities of water that we don’t have to wake these guys up?” Kluin asked, adding he is sure an alarm must trigger saying there is a leak in the system.
Luke Mercier, the county’s chief administrative officer, said he is grateful the county has technicians such as Payne.
“The beauty of having these very knowledgeable people working for us is that we don’t have to worry about our water system,” he said. “I would rather have them woken up at one in the morning when the fire department is called out to make sure nothing is wrong than just having us saying, ‘don’t worry it’s just the fire department.’”
Payne added he is usually able to tell the difference between a leak and the fire department quickly by looking at water useage.
Ron Govenlock, Whitecourt Central Coun., said the recent controversy about the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and distorted drug testing results made him think about testing redundancy.
“The integrity of some of these things is critical to the health and the trust we have in the system. It is important that it is reliable and people trust your results,” he said. “Is there a oversight mechanism in place to ensure that the results are accurate as a system of checks and balances?”
Williams responded, saying Environment and Parks inspects the county’s water and waste systems once a year, adding that on a weekly basis the county sends water samples to an independent testing laboratory for conformation.
“There is really no way as a municipality to fudge our results,” he said, adding Alberta Environment and Parks and Alberta Health Services are given the results of each test from the independent lab.
Mayor Jim Rennie thanked Payne for his work, adding that because of the work he did, county residents didn’t have to worry about the quality of their water.
