Skip to content

Village of Montrose's water chlorination underway

The on-line chlorination process began on Tuesday, and for village residents, this change to the tap water will most likely be noticeable.

The glass is almost full for the Village of Montrose as the final stages of its water treatment project began earlier this week,

The on-line chlorination process began on Tuesday, and for village residents, this change to the tap water will most likely be noticeable.

As the tap water reaches “official” water quality, it may taste or smell a little odd, explained Kevin Chartres, chief administrative officer for the village.

“Changes in both taste and odour will obviously be more noticeable because the system was previously un-chlorinated.”

Chartres said that in addition, while the chlorine works to clean the inside of the pipes, the taste and odour will be more noticeable until a free residual of chlorine is maintained.

He said it will take some time to obtain a consistent level of chlorine in the system, and levels could fluctuate from 0.2 to 1.5 parts per million (ppm), but ultimately the regulation requires 0.2 mg of chlorine per litre of water at the end of the lines.

“After a few weeks, most consumers will easily adjust to the difference,” he added.

For those who continue to notice the chlorine taste, the village suggests that drinking water be chilled in the refrigerator before consumption.

Also, residents can purchase products with activated carbon filtration which will remove most of the chlorine and its by-products.

Chartres said that careful monitoring of the disinfection process and of residual chlorine levels ensure that consumer complaints are minimized.

A “Water Condition Normal Notice” will be issued when the drinking water official is satisfied the water quality meets the requirements issued by the BC Drinking Water Protection Regulation.

Since February 2011, the village has been on a “Boil Water Notice” imposed by Interior Health Authority because sample tests detected persistent low levels of total coliforms, a bacterial indicator of water contamination.

The majority of the coliforms were recorded at the well site, however the distribution system also revealed the presence of coliforms during sampling.

In January 2012, the village received federal assistance infrastructure costs when they were granted $1.3 million from the Gas Tax Fund to replace a failing well and build a chlorination facility.



Sheri Regnier

About the Author: Sheri Regnier

Read more