National and international attention has been focused on the water supply industry in
recent years as a result of contamination incidents such as Walkerton and Battleford.
These experiences have focused on the importance of proficient operator skills and utility
management practices required to prevent illness outbreaks. In addition, a careful
assessment of a utility's infrastructure can assist in mitigating risks.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), has initiated Risk Assessment studies of all
water and wastewater services for First Nations communities including:
water treatment plants;
storage and distribution systems;
wastewater collection systems;
wastewater pumping stations; and,
wastewater treatment plants
which were inspected and analyzed against a prescribed questionnaire. Senior engineers
conducted these assessments and interviewed operating staff to determine a risk profile for
the community.
British Columbia represents a unique challenge for this initiative as the size, number and
complexity of the systems being analyzed varies as widely as the geography they are located
within. Each assessment brought new challenges, which allowed the assessors to conduct
comparisons between the systems.
This paper discusses the background behind the Risk Assessment initiative. Experiences of
the parties (government and consultant) involved in the assessments are provided. Results
of the program are summarized and the next steps anticipated in risk mitigation are
presented.
Includes tables.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 220 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 15 |
| Published : | 06/16/2002 |
