Photo Credit: Town of Renfrew
The days of an occasional brown tint in Renfrew’s tap water are on their way out.
Town Council approved a bid from Black and McDonald on a project to build a treatment system to remove manganese from the town’s drinking water supply at their meeting on Tuesday, May 9th.
Manganese leeched from the Bonnechere Riverbed has been identified as the culprit for an occasional brown tint in Renfrew’s tap water and is a familiar foe for the now-acting Director of Strategic Asset Management, Mike Asselin.
He explained to council that it has become a more common issue in the Ottawa Valley area, including in nearby communities like Casselman.
Two bids were submitted for the project, with the winning bid coming from Black and McDonald at $508,798. After adding in design costs and a $50,000 contingency fund, the project comes in at a total of $633,883, about $19,000 over budget.
The overage is expected to be covered by the town’s Water Fund Reserve, but Asselin notes that getting under budget could also come from that contingency fund going unused.
Once the system is operational, it will use potassium permanganate to turn the dissolved manganese in the water solid before it’s filtered out.
Asselin says the process will be carefully monitored by town staff and only used when needed, as too much of the treatment might turn the water pink.
The new system is expected installed over the summer, which will mean Renfrew residents might have to deal with the tinted water for one more season.
(written by Kasey Egan)
