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Can't swallow city's dirty water

Supervisor tells woman she can sue

By: Alexandra Paul

Posted: 09/21/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Nicole Bowering's two girls, Cadence, 4, and Alice, 18 months, drink some clean tap water. (MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

A Winnipeg homeowner angered by dirty tap water says she was told if she didn't like it, she could sue.

Frustration over seeing a stream of brown tap water again and again since May was bad enough, said St. James resident Nicole Bowering.

But in her latest calls to the city, Bowering said a supervisor with the waste-and-water department compounded the injury with insult.

First, she dismissed Bowering's claim for a ruined article of clothing stained brown by dirty water in the washer and then suggested the mother, 27, could hire a lawyer and take the city to court if she didn't like it.

"I can't do that," said Bowering, a stay-at-home mom with two daughters who is also a trained Pentecostal minister. "It was only $10 to replace the one (top) I got damaged."

Bowering's fruitless calls for action left her feeling the city's response was needlessly cavalier.

"I'm at a loss... My kids can't wait two or three hours for the water to be clean and I'm really concerned about my children's health," the mother said from the period farmhouse she and her architect husband are restoring in west St. James.

In the latest incident, Bowering filled a pot last weekend to cook perogies and spotted the suspicious brown tinge again. She nearly didn't see it.

"I was just shocked. I almost cooked my kids' food in dirty water," she said.

The city is looking into why there is a chronic problem in that part of St. James, a spokeswoman said.

Bowering is not the only one who is wondering what's up with the city's tap water.

Winnipeg prides itself on its source of clean drinking water from Shoal Lake in northwestern Ontario.

Early this summer, St. Boniface Coun. Dan Vandal floated a proposal to ban bottled water at city hall after the city unveiled a new $300-million water-treatment plant.

The optics on that idea seemed a little murky this week.

"I'm waiting for a report... which will likely be at the public works meeting on Oct. 2. We will see then," Vandal said in an email Thursday.

Residents from across Winnipeg have complained about brown water running from kitchen and bathroom taps this summer, city councillors acknowledged.

Coun. Jenny Gerbasi (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) noted the city responded with a statement Sept. 14 about brown tap water that was meant to reassure residents.

"A few weeks ago, we might have had calls, but most of the calls go to 311 and we might not know about it. I happen to know because my sister actually had it happen to her and I know it's happening throughout the city," Gerbasi said.

Bowering said she's called to complain a dozen times about dirty water only to be given various excuses, from broken water mains and problems with fire hydrants to the unseasonably hot, dry weather.

"Myself and thousands of other Winnipeggers are at their wits' end over the brown and dirty water issues in our city," Bowering said. "Since May 10 this year, I have personally called (the city) 12 times. That doesn't include the times that I had dirty water and didn't bother to call."

In a final twist, a day before Bowering's perogy incident, the city issued the public statement Gerbasi mentioned. It quoted public health officials saying the water is safe.

It blamed hot, dry weather for triple the normal number of water-main breaks and the dirty tap water.

Then, under a section called "tips for residents," it said to let the dirty water run out first and if it stayed brown, to turn the tap off and try again later.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 21, 2012 A3

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