Jamie Caccia says water quality certainly has been a hot topic of discussion in Pasadena for the past few days.
She is among the residents who had no idea the latest testing of the town’s drinking water showed unacceptable levels of trihalomethanes (THMs), a disinfection byproduct created during the chemical reaction between chorine and organic material in the water.
While the acceptable level determined by Health Canada is 100 micrograms per litre, Pasadena’s water supply had a reading of 175 micrograms per litre.
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Caccia has always considered the water in Pasadena to be the best tasting around. Her family even got rid of a water cooler in their house because they thought it was frivolous to be buying refills when they had perfectly good water right from the tap.
“If you don’t live in a community that has boil alerts, you always assume it’s safe for consumption,” she said. “To find out (the town’s water has high THM levels) was a little bit terrifying.”
Caccia isn’t sold on the reassurance that it would take lengthy exposure to high THM levels to possibly cause any problems.
“When you consider people have lived here their whole lives, that is what they’ve been drinking,” she said. “You’re not going to get cancer from one cigarette either, but we’re all told not to smoke for that reason.”
While she would have liked to have known about this sooner, Caccia is glad to hear this is an issue on the town council’s agenda.
“I can’t say I blame the council,” she said. “They are fairly new and have their list of things they’re trying to work towards. It seems to be on their list of things they want to address and I’m glad to see they are addressing it.”
The issue was discussed at a recent public meeting of council. The town has since indicated it has engaged a consultant to see what else can be done to lower the THM levels in the town’s water.
The town has also stated the fix might be a costly one.
Caccia, who said her two school-aged children drink water quite regularly, said her family is in the process of researching what their options are for ensuring the water they drink is as safe as can be.
Those options could include a proper filter system for tap water or going back to getting another water cooler unit.
