Rail strike could have an impact on Metro Vancouver drinking water

Officials at Metro Vancouver are working to secure more sodium hypochlorite (chlorine), as a potential rail strike could stall delivery of the chemical agent used to clean the area’s drinking water.

The regional district told CTV News that it has topped up its storage tanks to “maximum levels” in anticipation of a potential work stoppage.

“Metro Vancouver is taking the possibility of a strike that could disrupt supply chains seriously,” confirmed Goran Oljaca, director of engineering and construction in an email.

“Metro Vancouver’s main supplier for sodium hypochlorite, a large multi-national company, has supply available at its plants within the region. This supplier is confident that it will be able to source sodium hypochlorite from its plants outside the region,” he wrote.

Metro Vancouver supplies approximately one billion litres of drinking water to 2.8 million people daily. If rail service is disrupted, the plan is to transport the chlorine by truck.

Negotiations between CN Rail, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and their union have shown little sign of progress.

If an agreement can’t be reached by Thursday, workers will either walk off the job or be locked out.

“Metro Vancouver is also working with an alternate sodium hypochlorite supplier to provide smaller loads to maximize chemical storage throughout Metro Vancouver’s drinking water treatment and distribution network,” added Oljaca

So far, he did not “foresee any disruptions” to drinking water treatment process due to potential job action.