By Kanina Holmes
WINNIPEG,
Manitoba (Reuters) - Problems at a local water plant probably led to contamination
linked to three deaths in a small Canadian Prairie city and may be responsible
for dozens of cases of an illness similar to flu, officials said on Friday.
The
deaths, announced on Thursday, appear to be the second bout of fatalities linked
to contaminated Canadian water.
Seven people died and more than 2,000 people
fell seriously ill last year after E. coli bacteria contaminated drinking water
in Walkerton, a small Ontario town.
"We have 26 lab-confirmed cases of
cryptosporidium and we know that all of them do coincide with the period of time
when the plant was not functioning," Dr. Gerhard Benade, a medical health officer,
told a news conference in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, referring to a parasite
that has infected at least two dozen people.
Local officials confirmed
on Friday that a sedimentation chamber at the city's water treatment plant stopped
working properly for one month on March 19, after the plant was shut down during
routine maintenance on the system.
"This looks like the culprit of how
it may have entered our distribution system," Jim Toye, the city's commissioner
told Reuters.
The part of the filtration system at fault was responsible
for eliminating parasites like cryptosporidium, a microscopic organism that lives
in the intestines of humans and animals. Experts say the parasite cannot be killed
with chlorine.
"In fairness to all our operators, I believe that they've
done everything that was necessary at that time," said Wayne Ray, mayor of North
Battleford, a city of about 15,000 located in west-central Saskatchewan.
"There
was no indications based on all of the tests that we do that anything was at fault."
Officials
noted there are no rules making rural Canadian communities test for cryptosporidium,
and most communities, including North Battleford, do not carry out these tests.
Local
health authorities, fearing a link between the water supply and an influx of people
suffering from abdominal cramps, diarrhea and mild fevers to a local emergency
room issued an advisory on April 25 asking people to boil water used for cooking,
drinking or brushing their teeth.
That advisory, since strengthened to
a mandatory order, has now been extended indefinitely.
"There's a continuing
high level of risk with the city's drinking water system," said Benade.
"Cryptosporidium
cysts are still in the water distribution system and there are a significant number
of cysts being discharged into sewage effluent."
The city's sewage treatment
plant's discharge system is located just 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) upstream from
the intake system of North Battleford's water treatment plant.
Officials
said on Thursday that three North Battleford residents had died over the past
month, all of whom reported similar flu-like symptoms. Tests on the most recent
victim, who died on Wednesday, found cryptosporidium in a stool sample.
Health
authorities said healthy individuals infected with the parasite would not become
seriously ill and would likely recover within two weeks -- the three people who
died all had immune-system deficiencies.
But the assurances did little
to calm the fears of many residents who believe the problem is more widespread
than the two dozen cases officials confirm were caused by the parasite.
"Everybody
I know has been sick," local resident Brenda Klippenstein, told CBC television.
"Even though we're told the water is safe after it's boiled it still leaves a
question in your mind." |
