For months, residents of a town northwest of Edmonton have complained of tap water that’s off–smelling and tasting like mould.
Westlock resident Joan Wade, who’s lived in the town for 40 years, said she began to notice the issue in the fall.
“You can taste kind of like a mouldy taste,” she said, adding it isn’t even that bad at her house.
Wade said she already drinks bottle water at home, but has started cooking with it as well. She’s ordered water when dining out and said it’s unpalatable.
“I honestly cannot drink a glass of water, even with lots of ice in it.”
Joan Wade, left, enjoying lunch with some friends at a café in Westlock, Alta. on Friday, January 10, 2025.
Global News
The issue: fall water changes on the Pembina River — intensified by drought conditions that led to low streamflow — that became compounded after a valve was accidentally opened when it shouldn’t have been, according to Town of Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer.
“Typically in a place like Westlock, when you look at our water source, it’s the Pembina River. And so in seasonal changes, we always notice changes in terms of taste and smell. And usually that’s pretty easy to, after a few days at the water treatment plant, just to get things back to normal again,” Kramer said.
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But that didn’t happen. Kramer said the water remained gross and staff started to suspect something else compounding the issue.
About 40 complaints came into the town about the funky smell and taste to the water. The town performed an initial flushing of the network through hydrants, but that didn’t fix it.
“They did a little more investigating — town staff — and they noticed that access to just one of our water valves was opened in our new subdivision that was getting built, which shouldn’t have been opened.”
The opening of the system isolation valve released treated, but stagnant, water into the community’s 46-kilometre-long water system. The water had been sitting there for some time, he added.
“So stagnant water is in pipes from a kind of a half-built subdivision, probably 15 years old,” he said. “When that’s released into the system, it moves just really in strange ways depending on who’s using water, just because of how pressure works within your water system.”
The town said even a small amount of stagnant water can significantly impact the taste and odour of the entire water system. While it’s unpleasant, the town said the water is not dangerous.
“From Day 1 ongoing, the water has been safe to drink. All the tests have been passed from AHS standards. And that’s been consistent and the reporting has been consistent,” he said.
Fixing the stagnant water situation isn’t complicated — flushing the system — but it does take time.
“We’ve been actively flushing areas of town where we’ve had reports come from residents. We flush those areas and work with homeowners even to flush some of their internal systems to make sure things are okay,” Kramer said.
“It’s understandable when there’s frustration, when things aren’t as you expect. But the good news is, again, we have our head wrapped around the challenge. We know the solution. It’s just a matter of time until it’s fully resolved.”
The mayor explained because Westlock’s underground water network spans about 46 km, with some sections having dead ends and overlaps, removing all stagnant water completely is tricky.
That said, it’s been a couple of months now of ongoing testing and flushing, and Kramer thinks there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
“I’d say we’re probably right near the end of the challenges that we’ve experienced here in town.”
It’s welcome news for Wade, who said she tried to drink the water again around Christmas and it was still gross.
“It wasn’t even three weeks ago that I had a glass — I tried it again and it was not good.”
In the meantime, the community of 5,000 people has been advised they can help by maintaining normal water usage in their home or business and over time, internal plumbing systems will naturally flush the unpleasant taste.