Fernie Has Dirty Water

[mikes]

How many times a year is it recomended ,from the City of Fernie , that I boil my water before drinking? At least 3 times a year, but of course I never see the boil advisory until day three… after three days of sh!ting through the eye of a needle at 100 yard. The way I understand it is, there is small particles (silt) in the water, making it easier for bacteria to "cling" to, and makes it harder for the chlorine to effectively kill the bacteria. The questions are, does the City of Fernie use surface wateras a drinking water source? Why can’t we upgrade to micro filtraion. Is it my right to have access to clean, drinkable water, or is a privege. Fernie Alpine Resorts water source is never influenced by spring run off (its source is an aquifer) Didn’t we just upgrade the drinking water sytem of Fernie?

[mtnrat]

FAR uses surface runoff that is collected in an underground reservoir, then treated. The CoF is in the midst of a multi million dollar water works upgrade that I believe will alleviate the turbidity problem. For your peace of mind there has been no giardia or outbreaks of other water borne pathogens for over a decade as evidenced by no cases reported to the local hospital or health authorities. The boil water advisories are put into effect as a cover your ass policy just incase somebody gets sick. I believe most citizens ignore the boil water advisories. However that doesn’t mean I condone not boiling, (cya in effect).

[mikes]

mtnrat, your wrong about the ski hill collecting surface runoff and collecting it in an underground resevoir. During the "on season" most of the potable water it brought from an aquifer located at the Elk River. From the little building on the other side of the locked gate, pretty much at the bottom of the hill… you probally know where I mean. During the "off season" most of the potable water is gathered from springs located on the ski hill, and moved through the little hut on the lizard run, to add chlorine, then stored in two underground resevoirs, creating the large lizard jump right beside the little hut, and is still supplemented by the River Aquifer with the "river pump". There would never be enough surface runoff to supply the hill all summer long, never mind all winter long, when there is no surface runoff… The bears den water use to be run off… 7 years ago.. but now its t’d off of the snow making line, non treated… don’t drink it.

[henry]

i never boil my tap water and never get sick. i drink straight out of most of the creeks around here too, with notable exceptions, e.g. gorby creek that flows out of cedar bowl

[mtnrat]

Hey mikes, thanks for the info. Much of what I know is from the old era. Obviously WAY out of date. Back then much was from surface runoff which resulted in a campylobacter outbreak which one summer (about 1994??) made many people very sick.

[mikes]

mtnrat, I remember hearing about that outbreak, and my understanding is that Heiko had cows that he kept on the mountain to keep the grass down on the runs. Well they ended up sh!ting in the water supply, which was by the zig-zag fence at the enterance to Phat Larrys bike trail. Which I think is closed now. That water source is oldschool for sure.. and no more cows thank god.. There’s an old story about the old maintenance crew "scooping" up a cow while running the boom chair doing summer maintenance without knowing it. Sounded like it didn’t make it to far past tower 1 though. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[imported_ryland]

Doesn’t west fernie use the City of Fernie water system without having to pay city taxes?

good to hear about the ski hill water. I asked a question about this a while back and never got much of an answer. Good to know that it comes out of the elk river.. downstream of 2 sewage treatment plants and 5 coal mines. mmm mmm

[mikes]

Don’t worry Ryland I pay utilities here in west fernie which includes water usage on my bill. So we’re not using it for free. We’re paying for it. Number 2, do you know what an aquifer is? If not you should research it. It’s not coming out of the elk river, it’s coming from an aquifer beside and way under the elk river. Take a breath, calm down….. Breath….. We can get though this. Calm….

[supermom]

mikes wrote :
> How many times a year is it recomended ,from the City of Fernie , that I
> boil my water before drinking? At least 3 times a year, but of course I
> never see the boil advisory until day three… after three days of sh!ting
> through the eye of a needle at 100 yard. The way I understand it is, there
> is small particles (silt) in the water, making it easier for bacteria to
> "cling" to, and makes it harder for the chlorine to effectively
> kill the bacteria. The questions are, does the City of Fernie use surface
> wateras a drinking water source? Why can’t we upgrade to micro filtraion.
> Is it my right to have access to clean, drinkable water, or is a privege.
> Fernie Alpine Resorts water source is never influenced by spring run off
> (its source is an aquifer) Didn’t we just upgrade the drinking water sytem
> of Fernie?

It is an underground spring that Fernie gets its water from. It runs under fairy creek but is kept separate with a catchment to a pipe line. When the creek gets moving very fast it does upset the system but is not harmful. When the new upgrade is complete we shouldn’t see any more turbidity. Hope this helps. The only reason I know it is because we just took the girl guides on a trip to the water shed and Dave Cockwell gave us a tour of the "plant" and answered all of our questions. Great field trip!

[mtnrat]

Great thread. Now we are all up to date. mikes, that was the incident I was referring to. Nasty nasty bug.

[imported_ryland]

ok folks. lets not be fooled by "aquifers" and "springs" Where do you think the water in those came from? especially if they are under a body of water like the elk river or fairy creek.. they most likely are fed by those bodies of water.. Aquifers are all connected in some way or another.

I’m not sure how deep an aquifer the "river pump" well is at the ski hill. But I believe that the fairy creek "spring" is not so deep which is why it can get siltation in it during high water flows.

I would much rather drink turbid water from a pristine mountain creek (city of fernie) than an "aquifer" underneath the elk river and below the ski hill runoff.

[mikes]

As an added point, its actually up stream of ski hill effluent. Not that it makes a difference to the water source. I always pegged you as a bottle water kinda guy Ryland.

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