The E. coli bacteria infection in an Ontario town's water supply likely couldn't occur in Weyburn, as there are more safeguards in place here, said city engineer Bob Kinash.

Concerns have been raised in many communities, including Weyburn, after reports that five people died and over 1,000 people have fallen ill in the town of Walkerton, near Owen Sound, in the past week due to bacteria in their water supply.

"Our system is much different here from the well system that Walkerton is on," said Kinash, adding his office has fielded a few calls from worried residents, curious to know what the city's testing procedures are.

As Weyburn draws its water from the Nickle Lake reservoir, there is always a risk of coliform bacteria, a group of bacteria that includes Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli. This bacteria inhabits the large intestines of warm-blooded animals, and in humans causes infection that leads to nausea, stomach cramps, kidney failure, bloody diarrhea (one of the primary warning signs of the illness) and sometimes death. The infection is often caused by food poisoning through undercooked meat, such as hamburger.

"It's something we're always concerned about, in protecting our water supply and keeping cattle away from it. Sometimes it takes a disaster like this to bring it to people's minds," said Kinash.

Weyburn's water is tested three times a week for coliform and many other forms of bacteria, said Tom Williams, the city water treatment plant superintendent, with samples sent to the provincially-run testing lab. The tests are made at different locations throughout the city.

"Coliform bacteria is killed very readily by chlorination. We do a chlorine residual on the water in the plant every four hours, so there's an adequate level of disinfection. Some people don't like the smell of chlorine, but it's a necessary evil in the water supply," said Williams.

The province requires the city to send in two samples a week, and the city goes one better by doing three, he added, pointing out the bacteria infection in Ontario may have been the result of faulty chlorination equipment.

"We have automated equipment for the water leaving the plant. If the chlorine residual drops too low, the plant will automatically shut down and will not restart until the equipment is repaired and the chlorine level is restored," said Williams.

Besides the ongoing testing, the water treatment plant is shut down once a month for plant maintenance, to repair any equipment that is wearing out and avoid equipment failure that may have led to the Walkerton disaster. There is always enough water stored to supply the city during the shut-down, said Williams.

The testing procedures are required by the provincial department of all municipalities with water treatment facilities.

At Radville, the water is tested once a week at different locations around the town, and twice at the end of the month. The town tests for pH level, turbidity and for the chlorine level, plus there are daily tests of the chlorine residual at the plant, with records kept of the day-to-day testing, said Grant Sawyer, water plant operator.

Midale also sends their water samples in weekly, plus the staff do periodic tests of the system to ensure the water supply is safe at all times.