City says report shows manganese buildup to blame for brown water; WRHA confirms water safe

CTV Winnipeg: Brown water mystery Jeff Keele reports on the City of Winnipeg announcing findings from a report.

The City of Winnipeg released findings Thursday into the brown water situation which many residents faced throughout the city in the past year.

Diane Sacher, director of water and waste, said the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority confirmed that Winnipeg's water is safe to drink.

"The good news is we've identified the cause of the discoloured water. We know where it's coming from," said Sacher.

She said a consultants' report showed the water discolouration was caused by manganese, a nutrient that exists in our water supply from Shoal Lake. The majority of it, however, comes from a chemical used in the water treatment process.

The new water treatment plant was never designed to filter out manganese.

Even so, health officials say the levels of manganese at the height of the brown water outbreak last year were still too low to cause any harm.

"We were emphatically told our water is safe. Period," said Mayor Sam Katz.

Winnipegger Margaret Fast had brown water and wants to know why she faced it while others didn't. She also wants to know why the brown water was only in one room of her house.

"Always in the bathroom. Not in the kitchen," she said.

The city said it all depended on what you were doing when the manganese floated by.

"The thing might come as a slug through the main and if you had your dishwasher going your shower running you would be bringing that in where if your neighbour wasn't using water at the time wouldn't necessarily bring it in," said Sacher.

Sacher said the consultants’ report had a number of recommendations, and the city will ramp up cleaning schedules to tackle the manganese build up.

The steps will include using a new treatment product that contains less manganese. By 2016, the city will also use a manganese-free chemical altogether. Other steps include modifying the treatment plant to filter the nutrient and accelerating water main cleaning and city reservoir cleaning.

Sacher said it will take about two years to fully implement all the suggestions in the report.

Winnipeggers will see reductions in discoloured water this year and into next year as the recommendations are put into place, said Sacher.

"Isn't there something they could do quicker because that's a long time? People aren't going to like that," said Hilda Neustaedter, a Winnipegger whose friend had brown water.

The cost to design a system to filter out the manganese and to review the system design will cost more than $1 million.

The WRHA said we consume more manganese in the food we eat on a daily basis than what you'd find in a glass of brown water last summer.

The city posted more information on the brown water report on its website.

The city paid some residents for damage to laundry caused by the discoloured water in 2013.

In total, the city said 21 claims had been paid out so far, with an average amount of $63 per person.