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PRESS RELEASE
Ottawa, ON – March 5, 2009 (http://www.ottawariverkeeper.ca) – Meredith Brown, Ottawa Riverkeeper, issued an official statement today regarding reports about the health and safety of our drinking water, following yesterday’s “Tritium Awareness Project” press conference on Parliament Hill.
“To be perfectly clear, Ottawa Riverkeeper never issued an alert, advisory or warning regarding the health and safety of our drinking water. The City of Ottawa (Water Services Branch) is the only authority that provides advisories on the status of municipal drinking water, and to date, no such warnings or alerts have been issued”, says Meredith Brown.
“Media reports that warn against drinking municipal tap water are alarmist, and are not based on scientific information we have received to date. In addition, there have been no studies on the long-term effects of Tritium on humans, so we cannot accurately comment on the risks posed to human health”.
On February 26th, Ottawa Riverkeeper issued a statement regarding the “alarming” amount of Tritium that was released into the Ottawa River, as a result of a heavy water leak at the Chalk River nuclear facility. The releases of Tritium from Chalk River are significantly elevating background levels of Tritium found naturally in the Ottawa River, but currently, the amount of Tritium in Ottawa’s municipal tap water is well below Canadian drinking water quality guidelines. A scientific advisory committee (ACES) has recommended that the standard for acceptable levels of Tritium be reduced immediately, since other jurisdictions (California for example) have much more stringent guidelines.
At this stage, we are concerned about the long-term effects of Tritium exposure to human health, which have yet to be adequately reviewed by independent scientists. In addition, we are working diligently with our partners to demand accountability and increased transparency at the Chalk River (NRU) facility, operated by Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL).
For more information, please contact:
Natasha Wilson
Ottawa Riverkeeper
613-321-1120 / 613-324-9118
communications@ottawariverkeeper.ca