Watch: Water colour in Pointe-Claire is a worry for residents — Billy Shields reports.
POINTE-CLAIRE — Around a single West Island street, residents are becoming increasingly concerned over a problem they say plagues them every time it rains.
“We get brown water from time to time, in the summer when it’s raining, and yesterday we had the same situation in the evening,” said Raffi Terzyan, a resident of Highgate Avenue in Pointe-Claire.
He said the barrage of precipitation that snarled traffic and knocked out power often has the effect of turning the water rust-coloured.
Terzyan’s not the only one who’s noticed.
“I was doing laundry and the power went back on just before lunch,” Tara Stainforth, another resident, told Global News.
“I went to pick up my laundry to discover my mattress cover was brown.”
Like many residents, she’s concerned about health implications. She’s an expectant mother with a toddler.
Her neighbour, Marisa Dimiglio, has similar concerns.
“It’s gross.”
“It’s brown, and they say we can drink it, but I have two young kids at home, and it’s gross,” she said.
“I wouldn’t be drinking it or cooking with it or washing dishes with it.”
What’s the problem?
There isn’t, according to Pointe-Claire officials, who said that health concerns are unfounded.
“If there was a problem with the water we would advise people immediately,” said Mayor Morris Trudeau.
“We would put a red alert to all of our citizens advising them of the situation.”
The City of Montreal has run Pointe-Claire’s water treatment plant for a year.
According to city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin, the problem usually surfaces during power outages, when a surge from generators knocks loose sediment from the pipes.
The discolouration is the result of iron deposits that don’t pose a health concern, he stressed.
But it’s a cold comfort to residents with persistent questions, including why the discoloured water only seems to appear around one street in the city, and why it’s an ongoing problem.
“I would say it happens once a month,” said Dimiglio.
“It’s never been as bad as yesterday, but it’s been dark brown and it’s happening more frequently.”
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