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Water treatment plant complete (12/01)

By Mark Ladan PARRY SOUND - As municipalities in Ontario struggle to find the means to build new water filtration plants in the wake of the Walkerton water crisis, this Georgian Bay community is already well ahead of the game.
By Mark Ladan

PARRY SOUND - As municipalities in Ontario struggle to find the means to build new water filtration plants in the wake of the Walkerton water crisis, this Georgian Bay community is already well ahead of the game.
Water Treatment Plant
Parry Sound's new water treatment facility

In August of this year a new water filtration plant with the latest technology opened and started serving residents water that is as good or better than most municipal water in the world, the project manager says.

"The ultra-tight membrane filtration system used in the new Parry Sound plant is the best system available for municipal water systems," says John Thompson of Abacus Engineering.

"The membrane technology takes the place of the traditional sand filtering system," Thompson says. The water is still disinfected with chlorine as a final precaution.

The new water filtration plant was under construction when the Walkerton crisis erupted in the spring of 1999. Previously, Parry Sound simply drew its water from Georgian Bay and disinfected it.
When the proposal to build the plant was approved, it was just a good idea to provide residents with better-quality water. After Walkerton, the provincial government passed a law requiring all municipalities to have water filtration systems by 2002.

"Parry Sound is fortunate to have this system now and doesn't have to compete with other municipalities for the contractors to build such facilities," says Thompson.

This new water plant can filter up to 10 million litres of water per day, which is more than enough for current usage. Past records show the most water Parry Sound has used on one day is 6.9 million litres. The average daily consumption is about four million litres, Thompson says.

"The new plant has enough capacity to handle a fair amount of growth in the town," Thompson says. "There is also additional capacity in the building and the pipework of the facility so the maximum capacity can be increased up to 12 million litres per day."

The water treatment facility was built at a cost of just under $12 million. About 60 per cent of the tab was picked up by the provincial government. The rest will be paid for by Parry Sound ratepayers with a special levy on their public utilities bill.