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(lltttttldttttt fed Ill) With thlttttttlttttrttd water and ttity'tt lack ttt interest Instead it's tied his Mom- ach in knots because of the dirty water flowing out the taps of his Lincoln Village home. rnie Riediger thought E2111 uulduur hut tub would he a great way to relax and enjoy his retire- ment. Riediger. (as. said he never had a problem with water quality in his home in the more than 30 years he's lived on Braemore Avenue until a couple ofyears ago. Instead of the crystal clear water he was used to, it would come out a murky brown. And there was no way to ignore it. especially with what it was doing to his hot tub. Whenever the water would be discoloured it would clog up the filter and turn it brown with all of the particulate matter that it picked up. There were even calcium deposits left behind once that required him to scrub it out to prevent per- manent staining. "When you see a filter like that, you wonder if you should even be bathing in it," said Reidiger. "Do you want to even crawl into this stuff, let alone drink it." Nevermind drinking the stuff. Since the problem started " been strictly hot- tled water for him and his wife. Sandra. If that wasn't enough, using the hot tub left him with an unexplained skin sensitivity. It literally makes his skin crawl, and left him with a rash that even his doctor couldn't figure out. So each time he replaced the filter in his hot tub he would call local water authorities to report those dirty-water incidents. He's called the City of Waterloo, and they've told By Boa VRBANar t hrormie Stat) Local retiree Ernie Riediger was looking to spend some time in his new hot tub during his sunset years, but instead it's become a source of frustration due to the discoloured water coming out of the taps. He collected the latest sample of the brackish water that comes out of the City of Waterloo's distribution system last Thursday, which has him thinking of putting an end to his retirement dream. him they only distribute the water. He'd then call the region and they would claim that their testing exceeded Ontario drinking water requirements by 25 per cent. "They (the city) say it's safe to drink. but they dont recommend it for obvious reasons," said Reidiger. “We're not responsible. we're only the distribution system.'" Water treatment and sup- ply was a regional responsi- bility, officials said. - The water was supposed safe, although no one rec- amended drinking it when it was discoloured. Reidiger would even fill up a jar and offer to submit it for testing. but no one ever took him up on it. The latest mason jar of discoloured water came Thursday morning. a day after he e-mailed his con- cerns to local politicians. including Mayor Herb Epp. Regional Chair Ken Selling and Waterloo MPP Elizabeth Witmer. He asked them a few sim- ple questions including who is ultimately responsible when two levels of local gov- ernment are involved with water supply and distribu- tion? Reidiger knows source testing of water is required under the Ontario Safe Drinking Water Act, but how much testing is required to be done at the taps? And how much is actually being done? He also wondered about the additives to the water. He learned that chlo- ramine- treated water, a combination of chlorine and ammonia. has been pumped lo his home for the last year and is now being pumped citywide. 7 mid he Wondered to what extent flouride or chlo- ramine additives are con- tributing to the problem. Continued on page B I00 VIBANA( PHOTO