According to the results of a year-long study by a team of researchers that included 2,600 tap water sampling measurements, the City of Moose Jaw may have one of the highest levels of lead in its drinking water in the province.

In the report released Monday by Global News, 58 per cent of samples tested from areas of Moose Jaw, Regina, and Saskatoon indicated lead levels that were, on average, 22 parts per billion (ppb), as compared to Health Canada’s recommended limit of five ppb.

When Flint, MIchigan made headlines for high lead content in its drinking water in 2014, the 90th percentile reading reported was 27 ppb. American researchers at the time had also said that five ppb was cause for concern. 

The recent report indicated that lead levels in 105 Moose Jaw homes, suspected of having lead water service lines, showed readings of up to 25 ppb.

During Question Period at the Saskatchewan Legislature on Monday, Minister of Highways and Infrastructure Greg Ottenbreit argued that although lead levels in Moose Jaw's drinking water was compared to Flint, Michigan's in the report, there is nothing wrong with the water in Saskatchewan. 

"The water supply in this province is absolutely safe," said Ottenbreit on Monday. "The water supply to our municipalities and the water they deliver is safe. Wherever there is issues with lead in distribution systems, the city maintains those and monitors those. If there's ever an issue, they deal with it."

Ottenbreit went on to argue that the results shown in the report do not indicate an issue of contamination in the distribution systems in the cities surveyed, but rather in the connecting pipes to a handful of individual homes in some areas. 

"The issue, for the most part, resides with the homes, where we have lead pipes in some of the older homes, some of the older areas. Of course, that's the responsibility of the homeowner. We know municipalities have had ample revenue sharing and they have different programs they work with homeowners to address some of these issues." 

Trent Wotherspoon, New Democrat MLA for Regina Rosemont, argued that in some municipalities, the problem may very well lie in the distribution systems themselves. 

"There are many lead pipes that are part of the distribution network within our cities, not just pipes within someone's homes," said Wotherspoon. "In some cases, the levels of lead in the water exceeded the values tested in Flint in the height of [their] water crisis. To suggest that we should just stick with the status quo, just simply isn't good enough."

Patrick Boyle, executive director of communications and client services for the Water Security Agency said Monday that he disagrees with Wotherspoon's statements, agreeing with Ottenbreit that the water in Saskatchewan is safe to drink. 

"From our perspective at the Water Security Agency, we've done the testing, we do the monitoring, we do the oversight, we've had these conversations with the cities of Moose Jaw, Regina and Saskatoon for a number of years now. Each one of those cities has their own different programs to replace these lead service lines. From our perspective the distribution system to the homeowner's property line and to the area there has been safe, and we do test for that." 

We’ll have more on this story as information becomes available.