Casselman residents launch bottled water drive as taps run yellow

Casselman residents have been flooding Stephenie LaMaina's Facebook page with pictures of ruined laundry and discoloured bathtubs, as the community vents its frustration about what many say is its worst-ever bout of bad water.

LaMaina is the administrator of the Casselman Water Quality page. Like many there, she won't drink the yellowish fluid that comes out of her tap. This year, she's even wary of water she's spent thousands to purify.

"This is through $5,000 full of filtering systems to get light yellow water," she said, holding up a mason jar of lightly tinted liquid. "Not cool. Not cool at all."

But as she read through posts from her neighbours, she worried about those who have it worse. They can't afford expensive filtration systems. For some, even bottled water is straining their budgets.

"A lot of people were speaking up and going, 'I cannot afford bottled water,'" she said.

The municipality has insisted for weeks that the water, while perhaps visually unappetizing, is safe to drink. But it's warning that residents shouldn't use tap water to make infant formula. The discolouration comes from high levels of manganese, which some studies suggest can cause neurological problems in infants.

That spurred LaMaina to take direct action to aid her neighbours.

"We were like, 'we have to do something,'" she said. "Through the grapevine we had heard that the food bank was out of water, and we said, 'that's one thing we can do, we can get water to the food bank.'"

When her tap water changed colour, she started a bottled water drive for others

1 year ago

Duration 1:00

Stephenie LaMaina says Casselman residents who can't afford bottled water are speaking out after they noticed their tap water had changed to a yellowish hue.

Drive collects hundreds of litres

After she put out a call for help, water bottles began to accumulate on her property. She was expecting still more at a collection event scheduled at the village's water tower on Wednesday afternoon.

As of Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the drive had collected 416 litres of bottled water for the food bank.

Food bank president Diane Perreault called the Facebook water collection drive a good initiative. She said those looking to pick up water from the food bank will have to bring proof of residency and revenue, since its services are specifically geared to low-income people living in Casselman.

Cheryl-Ann McConnell is among the donors. Her own struggles with Casselman water have prompted her to spend thousands to filter what comes out of her tap. She worries most about neighbours raising infants on tight budgets.

She thinks the water collected in the donation drive should be available to anyone who says they need it.

"Maybe it's someone that looks like they should be fine to be able to buy water," she said. "But you don't know what's happening in their life, and it's just important that everyone is able to get water and feel safe."

'The water is fine to drink'

Mayor Geneviève Lajoie commended efforts to help families through the food bank.

"I think community effort and unity is exactly what we need," she said. But she warned that the food bank is only for low-income families, and shouldn't be used as a wider distribution centre.

Besides, she doesn't think it's necessary.

"The water is fine to drink," she said. "If there were any concerns, there's no way I would risk the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Casselman. So just rest assured that we're following the advice of the best experts, and I full-heartedly trust in their ability to guide and advise us."

Lajoie cited the guidance of the Ontario Clean Water Agency and the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, which says on its website that Casselman water remains safe for adults and older children.

But it also said that manganese levels reached as high as 1 mg/L on July 17. That's eight times Health Canada guidelines.

According to the health unit, levels that high could pose a health hazard, even for adults, if they continue for more than 10 days. But according to a July 20 update, the levels have declined since July 17. The health unit said it continues to monitor the situation.

Fear-mongering or poor transparency?

Lajoie urged the community to be wary of what she sees as social-media fear-mongering, which she blames for spreading misinformation about the safety of the community's water.

"I would like to ask people to refer to the official chains of information," she said, adding that she has personally blocked out Facebook pages she views as inaccurate.

"I'm not going to pay attention to messages that create fear in a community where we're perfectly safe," she said. "We have this completely under control."

She said the municipality is flushing its lines and holding daily meetings to consider the latest readings, though it is not releasing them to the public on a daily basis.

For LaMaina, that's part of the problem. She blamed the municipality for holding back that information and fuelling unease among residents who just want to know what's going on.

"In the absence of communications and data, people are already upset," she said. "They're going to think the worst."