Capital Project Update: Cove Bay Water Treatment Plant

Bowen Island Municipality continues working with the Ontario-based water treatment equipment supplier to address performance issues at the Cove Bay Water Treatment Plant.

In early August 2025, all ceramic filters within one of the plant’s two treatment modules were replaced. While initial results were encouraging, the module continued to experience challenges consistently meeting turbidity standards.
Throughout the fall, staff, in coordination with engineering consultants and the water treatment equipment supplier, conducted detailed reviews of plant operations, rinsing procedures, and system documentation.
From September onward, staff continued to request and review analyses from engineering consultants while preparing for the potential need for broader water treatment system planning and the future integration of supplementary water treatment equipment, if required.
In December, the Municipality and the Ontario-based supplier confirmed a path forward that includes:
- Repair and return-to-service work on the filter module experiencing turbidity issues, with detailed sequencing requested to guide municipal staff.
- Additional operator training, to be delivered in two cohorts, scheduled for late January and March 2026. This training is intended to support stable operation of the remaining treatment module and reduce operational uncertainty.

The Municipality has been actively pursuing improvements to the overall management of the Cove Bay water treatment system and has taken the following steps:

In mid-2025, the Municipality initiated efforts to retain an engineering consultant to design a controlled flush point on the Grafton Lake intake pipeline. The objective of this work is to allow operators to periodically remove accumulated material from the intake and improve the quality and consistency of water entering the treatment plant. The work has been awarded, and a site visit will be conducted in the coming week.
This work represents a relatively small component of a broader initiative, which will also explore the addition of further treatment processes to increase overall system capacity and resilience.

The quality of the water is generally good; however, there are occasional exceedances of certain low-risk parameters, such as turbidity. These occur due to the need to blend Grafton Lake source water which has not gone through the ceramic filtration process with the limited quantity of treated water produced by the plant to meet system demands. All water leaving the plant is disinfected.

For most individuals, Cove Bay drinking water is considered safe to drink. However, individuals with significantly compromised immune systems are advised to continue to take the precautions as outlined in the Water Quality Advisory that has been in place since mid-2024. The advisory can be viewed here.

The Municipality remains committed to achieving full reliability at the Cove Bay Water Treatment Plant through continued technical analysis, coordinated engagement with vendors and consultants, enhanced operator training, and contingency planning.