Verner's Urgent Water Problem

Harmful manganese levels 10x higher than new limit set by Health Canada.

Manganese levels go up to well over 1200 micrograms/litre in July and August. - West Nipissing Manager of Water & Sewer

Everyone knows that Verner has had a manganese problem for years. Manganese is a problem that has plagued the drinking water system for decades.

According to the city, the aesthetic problem in the water had historically been addressed by adding high amounts of chlorine dioxide in the water. In 2019, the municipality was forced to stop using this chemical which led to the concern over the obvious water discolouration in local sinks.

Manganese is a mineral naturally found in the ground. According to Health Canada, humans need a small amount of it but too much can lead to adverse health effects.

In the past, manganese was only considered a nuisance in drinking water, however, new scientific studies show negative health effects from exposure to high levels of manganese.

In 2023, Health Canada revised its guidelines on manganese in drinking water. They set the upper limit on acceptable levels of manganese in water at 120 micrograms per litre. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a an upper limit of 300 micrograms/L and the World Health Organization set it at 400 micrograms/L.

The increased concern over manganese in drinking water in recent years was driven by a systematic review of historical studies conducted in 2019 for the NeuroToxicology journal. Out of the twelve studies on cognitive effects, nine reported that exposure to manganese from drinking water has adverse effects on children’s cognitive functions.

Many of the studies have found a strong association between ADHD in children and exposure to manganese in their drinking water.

Health Canada’s latest guidances warns that exposure to manganese in drinking water can cause neurological and behavioural effects as well as deficits in memory, attention and motor skills. The concern over manganese appears serious enough that Health Canada advised that “drinking water that contains high levels of manganese, even for a short time, can be a health risk to infants.” The EPA currently advises that children under 6 months of age should not be exposed to water with levels higher than 300 micrograms.

These revisions which will likely be adopted by provincial authorities in the coming years certainly adds to the urgency of the Verner water problem.

Verner’s Manganese Level

When addressing the issue last month during his annual report to council, the Manager of Water & Sewer gave some worrying numbers on the manganese levels in Verner.

While most of the year, manganese levels are below 100 micrograms per litre, he indicated that in the summer months, manganese levels are “well above 1200 micrograms per litre”, 10x the acceptable level now set by Health Canada.

One study published in 2020 looked at over 600,000 individuals and found that exposure to greater than 100 micrograms/L of manganese during the first 5 years of life was associated with a 51% increased risk of ADHD-Inattentive subtype in females and a 20% increased risk in males, when compared with those exposed only to the lowest level of manganese. The authors concluded that their study “adds to the body of evidence suggesting an association between elevated manganese in drinking water and negative health outcomes in children at comparatively low levels.”

Prior to 2019, West Nipissing mostly mitigated the problem of manganese in the water by adding chlorine dioxide to the Verner water system.

But as the Manager of Water & Sewer explained, the ministry changed the regulations in 2019 and deemed chlorine dioxide’s by-products (chlorate and chlorite) as carcinogenic which meant the city had to stop using this chemical.

In the years leading up to 2019, the city’s annual water reports indicate that they routinely overused chlorine dioxide and created too much chlorite and chlorate. Even before being phased out, the ministry set an upper limit of 1 milligram (1000 micrograms) per litre. But multiple times per year, regular testing revealed that the levels in Verner were above the legal limit.

In both 2017 and 2018, the city recorded three separate critical incidents where chlorite and chlorates registered higher than the upper limit. It appears the protocol was to simply reduce the chlorine dioxide temporarily until a test result came back favourable and then increase them until the next inspection. But obviously this was not a sustainable solution. In 2018, the carcinogenic chlorite and chlorates registered at 4.50mg/L and 5.81mg/L during the summer months, more than five times the legal limit set before the chemical was phased out altogether.

Prior to 2019 Verner residents might have avoided the potential harmful effects of manganese but at the cost of ingesting harmful chlorites and chlorates.

Verner resident photographer her washing machine in 2019.

But in 2024 and no concrete plan in place to fix this problem, residents have no choice but to deal with incredibly high levels of manganese each summer.

While this problem appeared mostly aesthetic in the past, the revelation that the health of Verner’s children may be at risk should certainly add urgency to addressing this issue.

In 2019, when addressing the problem, the town CAO, Jay Barbeau told the CBC that "It's safe, it's just very unpleasant. It isn't a health hazard.” This was prior to the 2023 guidelines set by Health Canada.

The currently proposed solution is to expand the Sturgeon water line (from the Sturgeon River) all the way to Verner however this comes at price tag exceeding $10M. There are also concerns over the capacity of the Sturgeon water plant if that town is to grow in size and recently some have raised concerns about possible PFAS chemicals in local waterways.

The most frustrating part for Verner residents is the waiting. In 2019, the municipality held a public meeting with residents. Nearly five years ago, Jay Barbeau told residents that “the municipality is looking at the feasibility and cost of eliminating the Veuve River as a water source for Verner”. He told the public that "we believe that's probably the best long-term solution for the community of Verner, and it would assure a stable amount of water, a stable supply of water".

At the time, Verner Councillor Jérémie Seguin told the North Bay Nugget that he believed council “made some good decisions that will impact the municipality quickly and that the plan is to eventually wean Verner off of the Veuve River.”

Again this was five years ago and most would agree that we don’t seem any further along towards a solution.

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