2015 Summary Report Britannia Water Purification Plant & Distribution System 1.0 General overview The City of Ottawa provides treatment, storage, and distribution of high quality drinking water to approximately 874,000 residents and industrial water users. The central water supply includes the Britannia and Lemieux Island Water Purification Plants which utilize the Ottawa River for their source water. Treated drinking water from both plants is distributed through a large network of water mains, pumping stations, reservoirs, and elevated tanks including a direct water supply to Russell Township. Outside of the central supply, the City operates (5) well systems that provide drinking water to rural communities located in Carp, Richmond (Kings Park subdivision), Munster, Greely (Shadow Ridge subdivision), and Vars. This report deals specifically with the production and distribution of drinking water from the Britannia Water Purification Plant (WPP). The report must review regulatory requirements, standards and drinking water license requirements as a means of demonstrating compliance with drinking water regulations and the provision of safe drinking water during 2015. The report has been prepared in fulfillment of Schedule 22 of O.Reg.170/03, which requires that a Summary Report be prepared for each water supply system and given to the members of municipal council by March 31 of the following year. The report covers the period from January 1st, 2015 to December 31st, 2015. 2.0 Drinking water regulations The Safe Drinking Water Act (2002) was created in response to the events in Walkerton, as a means of ensuring the provision of safe drinking water throughout the province. Under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act, several key regulations have been defined in the last number of years: O.Reg.170/03 – Drinking Water Systems Regulation O.Reg.169/03 – Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standards O.Reg.248/03 – Drinking Water Testing Services O.Reg.128/04 – Certification of Drinking Water Systems Operators O.Reg.188/07 – Licensing of Municipal Drinking Water systems O.Reg.170/03 (Appendix) – Procedure for Disinfection of Drinking Water in Ontario O.Reg.170/03 (Sch.15.1) – Community Lead Testing Program These regulations cover all aspects of municipal water supply, including treatment requirements, quality standards, test frequency, operations and maintenance, operator qualifications, laboratory testing, inspections, reports, and public notification. Page | 1 Britannia Water Purification Plant – 2015 Summary Report 3.0 System approval and accreditation In addition to the regulations noted above, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) requires all owners of municipal drinking water systems to obtain a Municipal Drinking Water License (MDWL) for each drinking water system. These licenses are comprised of five elements, as listed below: • Permit To Take Water • Drinking Water Works Permit • Operational Plan • Accredited Operating Authority • Financial Plan The City of Ottawa is the Operating Authority for the Britannia Water Purification Plant and was awarded its ‘Full Scope – Entire DWQMS’ accreditation on October 3rd, 2011, with re- accreditation awarded on September 4th, 2014 by an independent third party audit, that its Operational Plan meets the requirements of the Drinking Water Quality Management Standard and is managed in a planned and systematic manner. In 2012, 2013 and 2015 the City has undergone annual surveillance audits that were completed by the accreditation body, NSF International Strategic Registrations. All surveillance audits resulted in zero findings of non-conformance. The audit findings identified that Ottawa’s DWQMS was effectively maintained and continuous improvement of the system was evident. 4.0 Annual inspection The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) carried out its annual inspection of the Britannia Water Purification Plant on February 3rd, 2016. The detailed inspection focused on regulatory compliance, plant operations, data records, operator certification, record keeping, and management practices for the period January 1st to December 31st, 2015. The inspection report is pending. 5.0 Compliance with drinking water regulations During 2015, the Britannia Water Purification Plant and Distribution System were compliant with drinking water regulatory requirements, with any exceptions noted below in section 6.0. The table in Appendix I demonstrates compliance by listing all key regulatory requirements for drinking water in comparison to the operational results achieved during 2015. The table illustrates both the comprehensive nature of provincial requirements and the diligence of drinking water staff in complying with drinking water regulations. Page | 2 Britannia Water Purification Plant – 2015 Summary Report 6.0 Items of non-compliance During 2015, there were (4) incidents of non-compliance as noted below: Chlorine residual measured and recorded for every bacteriological sample: Ontario regulation 170/03 states that the chlorine residual concentration must be measured and recorded for every bacteriological sample taken. Usually, the operator records the chlorine residual on the laboratory sample submission form. During 2015, there were 8 out of 6,239 distribution water samples taken for bacteriological testing in which the operator failed to record the chlorine residual value. As a result, operating procedures have been reviewed and a new field log sheet has been initiated to ensure chlorine residual levels are documented. Although these instances are deemed to be non-compliance events, they do not represent a risk to safe drinking water. Distribution system supervised by certified operators: during 2015, there was one instance where a certified operator did not maintain direct supervision over the installation and connection of sections of pre-disinfected watermain. This non-compliance event was reviewed with the MOECC. There was not a risk to safe drinking water as these sections of watermain were not in service at the time, and mitigative actions were taken prior to placing the watermain in service. Britannia Filter #12 turbidity readings: Ontario regulation 170/03 states that filter effluent turbidity must be monitored continuously with an on-line analyzer, or with readings taken every 15 minutes. On January 28th, 2015 a plant operator noticed that Filter #12 had no on-line turbidity readings for a period of 3.5 hours. The operator immediately shut down Filter #12 until instrument technicians could address the problem. The root cause of the failure was found to be a loose wire in the analyzer connection. Subsequently, the connection was fixed and a site contractor was asked to carefully check each of the turbidity analyzer connections recently completed as part of major filter re-construction. The local district office of the MOECC was notified of the non-compliance. While the incident represents non-compliance, there was no adverse affect to the quality of treated drinking water. The operation of the filter remained steady during the 3.5 hour period and final plant effluent turbidity remained low at 0.06 NTU or below. Britannia Filter #17 turbidity readings: on February 14th, 2015 a plant operator noticed that Filter #17 had no on-line turbidity readings from a period of 30 minutes. The operator immediately shut down Filter #17 and reset the turbidity analyzer. Once it was confirmed the turbidity analyzer was operating, the operator put Filter #17 back into production. The operation of the filter remained steady during the 30 minute period and final plant effluent turbidity remained low at 0.04 NTU. 7.0 Summary of annual water production The Britannia Water Purification Plant treated and distributed an average of 124.3 Million Liters per day (ML/d), which represents 35% of the approved plant capacity. The daily flow rates ranged from a minimum of 40.9 (ML/d) to a maximum of 196.0 (ML/d). The table and graph Page | 3 Britannia Water Purification Plant – 2015 Summary Report below summarize the 2015 water production by month. The 2015 flow rates were within the approved capacity of the treatment system, which is 360.0 ML/d. Britannia WPP daily water production flow rates by month during 2015 Average Daily Minimum Daily Maximum Daily Month Flow Rate Flow Rate Flow Rate (ML/d) (ML/d) (ML/d) January 133.4 82.5 194.7 February 136.2 106.5 178.3 March 114.1 77.2 129.9 April 102.5 57.5 114.8 May 120.3 96.3 151.6 June 126.0 82.8 174.4 July 136.1 97.1 166.2 August 133.1 86.3 178.8 September 128.6 75.5 162.3 October 113.2 40.9 127.8 November 124.4 103.5 196.0 December 124.9 109.0 132.2 Year End 124.3 40.9 196.0 (Average) (Min. Day) (Max. Day) Page | 4 Britannia Water Purification Plant – 2015 Summary Report The combined average water production rate for the Britannia and Lemieux Island plants together was 273.8 (ML/d). This flow rate for the City of Ottawa central water supply represents <1% of the Ottawa River flow (approximately 0.25 %). 8.0 Water quality report The Ontario Drinking Water System Regulation O.Reg.170/03 defines requirements for water quality sampling and testing based on categories of test parameters: microbiological, operational, inorganic, and organic. In order to fully characterize drinking water quality, the City of Ottawa conducts additional testing for hundreds of trace organic, pharmaceutical, and radiological substances. The table attached in Appendix II summarizes the test results for Britannia treated water, which represents water as it enters into the distribution system. It is important to note that in addition to treated water, water quality testing is performed for raw (untreated) water, treatment process, and approximately (60) sample locations throughout the distribution system (e.g. pump stations, reservoirs, schools, fire halls, etc.). For comparison against the water quality results, the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (O.Reg.169/03) are presented in the right column of the table to indicate the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) for various substances in drinking water.