Good Afternoon BK Families!

Just a friendly reminder about the Christmas concert that was posted in the last blog:

Our Christmas Concert, entitled, “The Littlest Christmas Tree”, will take place on December 14 at 1:30 p.m. and December 15 at 1:30 p.m.  Please note that we have over 200 students in our building, so we ask that you come to one showing only and keep your group to immediate family members so that each family has an opportunity to see the performance.  After the performance, you are welcome to take your child home.  Please just check-in with your child’s teacher before leaving.

Mrs. Marken would like to thank Lexi F, Jamie H, Calvin M, Wylie M, Liam M, Henry P, Callum R and Presley S for helping her Kindergarten class with their practices for the Christmas concert.

Water Update!  This information was sent to the district from the Engineering Firm, KWL Engineering:

The project began in July of 2017 with a groundwater study to try and find a better water quality source.  A confined aquifer was not found with the drilling program.  The deeper well that was drilled was considered lower risk of pathogens from surface water influence but still had the iron and manganese issues that prompted the do not use order and needed treatment.

Flow monitoring and water quality monitoring occupied the balance of 2017.  Design of the treatment plant began at the start of 2018 using the data collected in 2017.  The construction permit application process started in June of 2018.  Unfortunately IHA, due to staff shortages, was unable to complete their review and issue the permit for the water treatment plant until November 1, 2019.  The final mechanical pieces for the plant were completed in March 2021. 

Water quality in the school after the water treatment plant was commissioned was free from colour and was confirmed to be meet the Canadian Drinking water guidelines and the provincial treatment objectives but the chlorine levels were not stable and iron and manganese scale deposits were observed by staff to be plugging tap aerators.  For these reasons the do not drink order was not lifted.

A remote log in connection was established in June of 2021 to allow BI Pure Water to log in remotely to provide off site support.  Operational staff for the water treatment plant took additional training and KWL and BI Pure Water agreed to provide some on site support at no cost to troubleshoot the chlorine instability issues.  Weekly meetings began on May 10, 2022 to bring everyone together (SD8, KWL, and BI Pure Water).  Action items were summarized as were any identified deficiencies, and a plan was developed.  BI Pure Water made several trips to the site as did KWL. 

It was determined that the chlorine stability was caused in part by scale deposits that built up in the system over decades of operation in the old bladder tanks and school piping.  This largely resolved itself as the chlorinated water was run through the school and removed the scale deposits.  SD8 also replaced the old bladder tanks which also had scale deposits and were at the end of their life expectancy.  No plugged aerators have been found since additional flushing was performed and the bladder tanks have been replaced.

It was also determined that the raw water quality was varying through the day.  This is very uncommon and unexpected.  With no water use over the weekend, the initial raw water quality has a high chlorine demand and chlorine demand decreases as the raw water quality improves with water use through the day.  Raw water quality variation due to low water use can be addressed by timing filter backwash cycles to occur when water use is low (over the weekends).  This could be further improved by running some water to waste if school is going to be out for an extended period with little to no water use.  A continuous bleed system could also be set up in the school to further improve this.

A summary report is being written as is the final submission to Interior Health to enable Interior Health to lift the do not drink order.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the office.

Mrs. Kooznetsoff