AIMS Interim Municipal Report Card – Environmental Health

Environmental Health: Drinking Water, Solid Waste and Wastewater

For most of our environmental health measures, data are not available for a significant number of municipalities.

Where data are available, there are several interesting contrasts in the drinking water, solid waste, and wastewater statistics. The Municipal District of Digby, for example, reports one of the lowest wastewater operating costs, but has among the highest costs for solid waste services. is also at the low end on wastewater costs, but has the highest operating cost for drinking water. The of Lunenburg shows relatively low figures for solid waste services and for drinking water, but is among the highest for wastewater.

Only 22 municipalities reported wastewater main back-ups. HRM, Colchester, and County all report fewer than 0.03 back ups per kilometre of main per year. The Town of Shelburne had the most back ups, two wastewater main back-ups per kilometre of main per year. , which places second last, experienced on average 0.31 back ups per kilometre of main per year.

Stewiacke has the highest drinking water operating costs, followed by Westville. Neither of these two have issued boil water advisories during our study period; however, Kentville, , and Windsor have the lowest reported drinking water operating costs and also have not issued any boil water advisories. Among the municipalities with the greatest number of boil water advisories, their rankings for drinking water operating costs are located in the mid and low ranges. Among the municipalities with the lowest number of boil water advisories, rankings for drinking water operating costs are in the high, mid, and low ranges. In summary, there is no clear connection between drinking water operating costs and the incidence of boil water advisories. One caveat regarding the boil water data is that we lack usable information on the duration of the advisories.

Out of 55 municipalities, the Department of Environment reported drinking water bacteria tests results for 44; however, only 42 of those municipalities were tested consistently over the three year time period. Springhill has the greatest average number of tests with bacteria, 1.3 %, followed by Bridgetown with 0.8%. Most of the municipalities have tested positive for bacteria, but average at less than 1%. Twelve municipalities had no positive tests for the presence of bacteria. This year the province introduced new standards in bacteria concentrations, future test results in relation to those standards will be of interest.

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AIMS Interim Municipal Report Card – Nova Scotia Environmental Health

Number of Drinking Water Wastewater Wastewater Main Operating Costs Solid Waste Operating Costs Back-Ups Per Per Million Litres Number of Boil Collection and Rank (Out Per Kilometre of Rank (Out Kilometre of Rank (Out of Water Rank (Out Water Rank (Out Percentage of Water Rank (Out Disposal Operating of 28 - Wastewater of 42 - Wastewater of 22 - Treated, of 29 - Advisories, of 55 - Tests that Contain of 42 - Costs Per Ton, Low to Main, Average Low-To- Main, Average Low-To- Average 2004- Low-To- Average 2004- Low-To- Bacteria, Average Low to Municipalities Average 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 High) 2006 High) 2006 High) 2004-2006 High) Amherst $342 12 $4,772 15 0.03 6 $689 7 1 52 0.2% 25 $591 23 $3,440 7 0.12 15 $3,257 24 0 1 0.2% 27 Annapolis $7,943 27 $607 5 0.67 48 0.6% 40 Antigonish (county) $332 10 $6,296 24 0.03 4 $2,234 23 0 1 0.6% 39 Antigonish (town) $10,511 32 0.67 48 0.3% 35 Argyle $490 18 $6,714 25 01 Barrington $503 19 $13,863 37 01 Berwick $5,400 18 01 Bridgetown 0.33 37 0.8% 41 Bridgewater 01 0%1 Canso 01 0%1 Cape Breton $222 5 3.33 55 0.3% 30 Chester $509 20 $21,206 39 0.28 20 $1,360 18 0 1 Clare 01 Clark's Harbour $1,213 28 $4,326 11 01 Colchester $348 13 $10,695 33 0.02 2 $1,666 22 0 1 0.05% 14 Cumberland 01 Digby (district) $640 24 $1,732 2 01 Digby (town) $5,826 21 0.33 37 0% 1 East Hants $426 16 $8,129 28 0.05 8 $956 12 0 1 0% 1 Guysborough $443 17 $6,257 23 $4,080 25 0.33 37 0.4% 36 Halifax Regional Municipality $8,552 30 0.01 1 $537 4 0.33 37 0% 1 0.33 37 0% 1 Inverness $11,333 34 0.10 14 1 52 0.2% 28 Kentville $9,391 31 0.06 11 $461 1 0 1 0.3% 31 Kings $11,934 36 0.05 9 $1,060 14 0 1 0.1% 15 $702 25 $5,565 20 0.33 37 Lunenburg (district) $158 2 $11,816 35 01 Lunenburg (town) $194 4 $14,362 38 $723 8 0 1 0.1% 18

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AIMS Interim Municipal Report Card – Nova Scotia Environmental Health

Number of Drinking Water Wastewater Wastewater Main Operating Costs Solid Waste Operating Costs Back-Ups Per Per Million Litres Number of Boil Collection and Rank (Out Per Kilometre of Rank (Out Kilometre of Rank (Out of Water Rank (Out Water Rank (Out Percentage of Water Rank (Out Disposal Operating of 28 - Wastewater of 42 - Wastewater of 22 - Treated, of 29 - Advisories, of 55 - Tests that Contain of 42 - Costs Per Ton, Low to Main, Average Low-To- Main, Average Low-To- Average 2004- Low-To- Average 2004- Low-To- Bacteria, Average Low to Municipalities Average 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 High) 2004-2006 High) 2006 High) 2006 High) 2004-2006 High) Mahone Bay $5,536 19 $1,267 17 0 1 0.2% 26 Middleton $4,545 13 0.22 19 $811 9 0 1 0.3% 33 Mulgrave $560 22 $2,707 5 0 1 0.1% 21 New Glasgow $376 15 $5,979 22 0.14 17 $4,329 26 0 1 0% 1 Oxford 0 1 0.2% 23 01 0%1 Pictou (county) $713 26 $8,277 29 0.02 3 $831 10 0.33 37 0.3% 29 Pictou (town) $248 7 $1,345 1 0.13 16 $1,666 21 0 1 0.1% 22 $2,417 4 0.18 18 $1,202 15 0 1 0.5% 37 Regional Municipality of Queens County $288 9 $4,749 14 0.06 12 0 1 0.1% 16 Richmond $374 14 $21,495 40 $1,247 16 0.67 48 0.3% 34 Shelburne (district) $546 21 $67,095 42 0 1 0.5% 38 Shelburne (town) $245 6 $4,111 9 1.99 22 $4,740 27 0.33 37 0.1% 19 Springhill 1521.3%42 St. Mary's $1,058 13 0 1 Stellarton $168 3 $4,982 17 0.05 10 $482 2 0 1 0% 1 Stewiacke $1,927 3 $9,942 29 0 1 0% 1 Trenton $334 11 $2,714 6 0.05 7 $1,491 20 0 1 0.1% 17 Truro $3,945 8 0.03 5 $634 6 0 1 0% 13 Victoria 0.33 37 0.1% 20 West Hants $913 27 $7,397 26 $1,489 19 0.67 48 0% 1 Westville $267 8 $4,395 12 0.08 13 $6,017 28 0 1 Windsor $151 1 $4,203 10 $537 3 0 1 0% 1 Wolfville $4,878 16 0.31 21 $901 11 0.33 37 0.2% 24 Yarmouth (district) 0.00 1 Yarmouth (town) $23,984 41 0.33 37 0.3% 32 Average $439 $8,970 0.18 $1,940 0.2 0.2% Minimum $151 $1,345 0.01 $461 0 0% Maximum $1,213 $67,095 1.99 $9,942 3.3 1.3%

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