WC128 JanFeb2023 - Magazine - Page 14
DRINKING WATER
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Getting the Lead Out
The City of Hamilton’s Corrosion Control Program
BY DAVE ALBERTON AND SUSAN GIRT
AMILTON IS AN OLD CITY with old city problems.
The second city in Canada to create its own water system,
Hamilton relied on lead water services in plumbing until
1955 and lead soldering until the 1990s. With 154,352
water service lines and about 20,000 homes built before
1955 that may have lead water service lines connecting the homes
to the city municipal water supply, lead was a city problem that
needed to be solved.
The City conducted a lead sampling program that confirmed
that more than 10 per cent of the lead samples taken from residential plumbing systems with water service lines exceeded 10
micrograms of lead per litre ( /L). (The maximum acceptable
concentration (MAC) for lead set by Ontario Regulation 169/03
is 10 micrograms per litre. In 2019, the acceptable level set by
Health Canada was lowered from 10 micrograms per litre to 5 micrograms per litre.) While there are no lead watermains in the City
itself, there are lead service lines on public property that needed to
be identified and replaced, which would take years to accomplish.
Nick Winters, director of Hamilton Water understands that
need to mitigate the effects of lead as quickly as possible to protect
the City’s residents. He says the City “recognized that they needed
an interim solution that would have a more immediate effect while
the replacement program was underway,” leading to the implementation of a Corrosion Control Program (CCP).
H
Dave Alberton
Dave Alberton is the manager of
Water Distribution & Wastewater
Collection for Hamilton Water.
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WATER C AN ADA • JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2023
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City of Hamilton
Susan Girt
Susan Girt is the manager of
Compliance & Regulations for
Hamilton Water.
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