Recipients of an information bulletin handed out in mid-January about the risk of lead in household drinking water are lining up to get their water tested.
The city-issued bulletin has sparked concern and a demand for in-home water tests offered by the city, says Dixon Weir, director of water and wastewater services at the City of Ottawa.
Two weeks after the notice was handed out, about 800 residents called the city with more than half interested in getting the free test, says Weir.
People from areas dense with older homes, including Somerset, Rideau, Capital, Vanier, Alta Vista and Kitchissippi wards, are responding to the city in the highest numbers, says Weir.
Levels of lead in Ottawa’s drinking water became a prominent public concern in 2007 when results of a city-wide water testing showed traces of the poisonous metal.
The city responded with a program to replace old pipes and pipe connections, and $1 million was allotted to finance the costly replacements.