The City is powering ahead with plans for a new drinking well in Fernie, after the successful completion of test drilling near Cedars Subdivision in December.
The Free Press was informed that three test wells have successfully been installed in the ground and are awaiting pumping tests that will begin in spring. Pumping tests will determine the site’s suitability for usage as a secondary drinking source and if results are unsatisfactory, other locations will be investigated.
The hunt for a new secondary drinking source began when elevated selenium levels were discovered in Fernie’s James White Park wells, which is the city’s current secondary source of water.
The city’s main water source, Fairy Creek, supplies water to the community for the majority of the year, but during times of high turbidity, when soil and debris particles float to the surface of the water making it cloudy, usage switches to the secondary source in James White Park.
Mayor Nic Milligan said that heightened selenium in James White Park means the city has to rely on Fairy Creek more often and is not always able to switch over when needed, which, in turn, increases the need for boil water advisories.
“It does occasionally extend boil water advisories because we’re now relying on periods of low flow solely on Fairy Creek, so it presents a challenge,” he explained.
“Our water management folks have been really good at balancing the use of the two sources, but to take that strain off them and any uncertainly about the absolutely safety of our water, we’re looking for a secondary source.”
Provincial water quality guidelines mandate that selenium levels in water not exceed 10 parts per billion (ppb) and selenium concentrations in James White Parks wells have, at times, exceeded that amount. According to Milligan, in April 2023, selenium concentrations in James White Park wells reached 12 ppb.
This is slightly higher than in 2022, where the highest recorded amount was 8.9 ppb and fell just under the limit.
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Milligan said that the possibility of high selenium levels in James White Park wells is not a new topic of discussion.
“We’ve been in conversation with Teck for a while. It predates my coming to office. It has been recognized that the James White wells are influenced by the Elk River,” he said
Data on selenium concentrations in 2023 has not been publicly released yet, but numbers from the previous year are available on the City’s website.
According to the City’s 2022 Annual Drinking Water Report, selenium testing and recording was conducted weekly at James White Park wells by city and Teck staff and that 126 selenium samples were taken at this location.
Bacteriological samples were also taken from James White Park wells and analyzed in a laboratory for E.Coli, total coliform bacteria, total non-coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria and fecal non-coliform bacteria and no positive samples were found.
The 2022 Annual Water Report is available online at Fernie.ca.