The Our Town - Clarenville Blog by Paul Tilley

As many other towns in NL are suffering water woes, Clarenville's investment in a modern water treatment and distribution system is paying off for its residents.   Just yesterday, the CBC reported that 128 municipalities in this province have THM levels in excess of the Health Canada imposed standard of 100 micrograms per litre - we are NOT one of them.  What's more disturbing for the province is that the number of municipalities with questionable water has doubled in the last thirteen years. Clarenville's report (see below and link HERE ) consistently shows that the water coming out of your town fed tap is safe and safe by a good margin. That's great news and something that the Town and particularly the people who manage our water treatment plant should be very proud of.  (There is a bit of a disturbing trend towards progressively higher THM levels however and something that we should work on addressing.) THM's are a by-product of the chlorination process.  C

On Thursday’s edition of CBC’s Here & Now, Mayor Fred Best appeared in a story by reporter Lee Pitts saying that Clarenville is nearing its limit in the supply and distribution of water .   This despite that fact that it was only in 2008 that Clarenville opened its new $14 million state-of-the-art water treatment facility. (with an improved distribution system) The negative implications of a potential water shortage to possible investors are tremendous.    Developers need a ready water supply to develop and companies/retail stores contemplating establishing themselves in Clarenville need water to ensure proper fire protection and operation.   If we have a serious water issue we better work to get it fixed soon.   Without the fix, investors will be scared off and even though choking development might help resolve a water problem - that’s not a solution we want to see.