Montrealers could have to filter tap water for another 10 years to protect their health, while waiting for the City to replace their lead water inlets.
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“We have no idea when the work will take place by 2032. Ten years is a long time when we’re talking about running water,” says Sébastien Joly, who moved two years ago to rue Saint- Urban in the Ahuntsic district, where he lives with his wife and two-year-old daughter.
In 2019, the City of Montreal launched a vast screening campaign with a view to eliminating the 50,000 lead water pipes on its territory by 2030, a deadline postponed to 2032 due to the number of screenings revised at the increase and delays caused by the pandemic, confirms by email a spokesperson, Hugo Bourgoin.
For Sébastien Joly, the verdict fell last year: the water in his triplex has a lead concentration more than twice as high as 5 picograms per liter (ug/litre), the maximum recommended by Health Canada. It was therefore suggested to him to avoid drinking and cooking with unfiltered tap water because of the health risks, particularly for the neurological development of young children (see below).
“It’s too much risk. I don’t want to have lead stored in my bones for years. For my daughter, it is sure that it is not ”, drops the young father of the family.
wait after the city
Owners of the neighboring triplex since 1999, Isabelle Perrin and Arnaud Belarbi received the screening results in writing in August 2021.
They thought they would have to bear the cost of the replacement work, as required by the City of Montreal since 2019. But in discussions with contractors, they discovered that their part of the piping is made of copper. They will therefore have to wait for the work on the public lead portion to stop filtering tap water.
“When we call the City to find out where we are in the calendar, all we are told is that we will be notified two weeks in advance,” laments Isabelle Perrin.
She was able to easily obtain a filter pitcher provided by the City to sanitize the water. However, she quickly ran out of spare filters and now has to get them, for her family, but also for her two tenants.
Not very ecological
Mr. Joly explains that after two or three months, the filters lose their effectiveness.
“When the filter is saturated, it releases lead particles,” he says.
To facilitate family cooking, it comes complete with 18 liter water bottles.
“I feel like I’m camping,” he blurts out, adding that this solution isn’t very environmentally friendly.
“Are we going to have 10 years of pitchers?” wonders Isabelle Perrin.
She claims that the costs be deducted from the water service tax, which amounts to approximately $560 for this year.
“Over 10 years, it’s $5,600. It’s expensive taxes for water that we can not drink.
SOME NUMBERS
- 50,000 | Number of water pipes that the Plante administration estimated should be replaced in 2019 by 2030, a schedule postponed to 2032.
- 28,353 | Number of replacements made at the end of 2021.
- 100,000 | Number of 250,000 water connections in the 19 Montreal boroughs which remained to be screened at the beginning of the year according to the city.
Risks for young children
In Montreal, there is almost no lead in the drinking water from the aqueduct networks. The water is loaded with lead when it circulates in the pipes that connect the networks to the residences, we read on the website of the Regional Directorate of Public Health of Montreal.
Pregnant women and young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure to this heavy metal, due to risks to the intellectual development of infants and children under 6 years old.
“There is no exposure considered safe. Even a low dose can have an effect on development,” explains Caroline Huot, medical adviser at the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ).
The risk is low on an individual level, but it has a “notable” importance on a population level, specifies the DD Huot. She adds that water is generally not the main source of exposure to lead, which is also present in the air and in dust on the ground.
Some tips
- Use an NSF/ANSI No. 53 certified filter pitcher following the manufacturer’s instructions
- Let the tap water run for a few minutes before drinking it, especially when it has been in the pipes for a long time.
- Always use cold water for cooking
- Boiling the water is unnecessary because the lead does not evaporate
Source: Montreal Regional Public Health Department