Labrador business owner wants refund for 'disgusting' water

A summer full of boil water advisories in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of some residents.

A town-wide boil advisory, brought on by an unexpected power outage last weekend, has been lifted.

But another one is scheduled for the Valley area of town this weekend, where residents have been boiling their water since June 17.

The water issues have also led to boil advisories in the Hamilton Heights and the Spruce Park areas of town, where there have been warnings on and off sincemid may.

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"It's sickening," said landlord and bed & breakfast owner Ray Godwin.

"We have guests come in here, and I had to put up a notice in the washroom that there's a boil water order on. It's been in there now for about two weeks. I have to supply my guests with bottled water in order for them to wash their face and hands properly, to brush their teeth.

"You shouldn't have to do that this day and age."

Routine work 'not always a bad thing'

But Happy Valley-Goose Bay mayor Jamie Snook says some of those advisories are because of routine work on the water system.

"It's not always a bad thing," Snook said.

"Annually at this time of year, the town does a lot of fire hydrant flushing, for example. That's just one example of preventative maintenance. Every time this happens, it causes disruption in the system, and we have to do these advisories," Snook said.

"Other times, there could be an emergency situation where there could be a water break, and most recently the power went out, so all of these cause advisories."

On top of that, the distribution system is old, and needs a lot of money forimprovements. The town recently awarded a $2.1-million tender to Grey Rock Services for water main replacement, which will result in more boil advisories later in the summer.

But even when the water is safe, Godwin saidhe won't use tap water, instead opting to spend close to $400 a month on bottled water.

"There's times you get up here in the morning, 4 or 5 o'clock, turn it on, and it just smells like Javex coming out of there," he said, adding his guests will comment on the water's chlorine taste and smell.

The Valley where Godwin lives and works gets some of its water from a different source.

Since 2002, the Valley has been fed with a combination of water from a new treatment plant, and Spring Gulch, which supplies the rest of town.

Water is tested 7 days a week in different parts of town, and 5 days a week at the water treatment plant. On top of that, the province does additional testing 4 times a year. In the last 10 years, there has never been an instance of contaminants in the water.

Cloudy water, corroded appliances

Still, it's common to see Valley residents posting on social media, pictures of yellow, cloudy water, or corroded appliances.

It just smells likeJavexcoming out of there- Ray Godwin

Keith Legge, who owns D & L Appliance Services, saidhe isdefinitely fixing more appliances than he used to -- especially hot water tanks, and front-loading washing machines.

"I've been seeing a lot of them just chewed up, just eaten up to nothing, almost like to a powder, to a concrete mixture almost," said Legge,

He said a new washing machine should last 10 years, but he's seeing them break down after five years. Some hot water tanks he works on need replacement after twoor three years, when they could last 20 with proper care.

He says nearly everything he services is in the Valley.

"The only thing that makes sense to me is the fact that the Valley water is coming off that river, and there's a lot of sodium and salt content," Legge said. "We all know what salt likes to do with metal."

Tapped out

Meanwhile, there are calls from Valley residents for a return to water exclusively from Spring Gulch.

But Snook says that's not possible.

"Right now, we are drawing as much water as we can sustainably take from Spring Gulch," he said.

5 Wing Goose Bay allots the municipality 3,000 cubic metres of water per day from Spring Gulch.

"That's as much as they can sustainably produce and still meet their demand on the Wing," Snook said. "At peak times in summer, we're up to needing about 7,400 cubic metres a day."

A few unsatisfied customers have been calling for a refund of their water and sewer bill, something Snook said won't happen.

"The reality is, the town has invested a lot of money in its water system, and people may not want to hear it, but a lot of extra money is going tohave to continue to spent upgrading this system," he said. "It's a consistent theme right throughout all of the parts of this town -- our infrastructure's old, it needs to be reinvested in."

"If we don't reinvest and revitalize the town, the town's going to show its age, and I hope that people can understand we need to do that."