Drinking water deemed unsafe aboard new Arctic patrol ships

The Arctic and off-shore patrol ship HMCS Margaret Brooke was delivered to the Royal Canadian Navy in 2021. (CTV Atlantic)

The Royal Canadian Navy is providing sailors aboard Canada's new arctic patrol ships with bottled water to drink after tests showed increased levels of lead in the ships’ water systems.

Water quality concerns aboard the newest fleet of artic patrol ships have revealed lead contamination in the navy ship's water system and were first detected on the HMCS Harry DeWolf.

The Department of National Defence says an investigation revealed fittings and valves in the water system were manufactured from alloys that exceed lead requirements.

"Our priority is and will always be the safety of our members," said a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence.

"In order to accept the ship, we put into place mitigation measures for the near and medium-term including regular water testing and providing RCN members with bottled water while onboard."

Those faulty fittings have already been installed in three other recently built navy ships, including the HMCS Margaret Brooke, HMCS Max Bernays and HMCS William Hall.

Halifax-based independent security and defence analyst Ken Hansen doesn't want to downplay the issue but says the task of bringing Canada's shipbuilding program back to life is a huge one, and issues are bound to come up -- especially when many processes and parts are involved.

"Apart from the personal health issue, I don't see it as a threatening or dangerous issue in any way," said Hansen, who spent 33 years with the Royal Canadian Navy. "It's been identified a long time back but really, it represents a supply chain problem when you are starting up a new production line."

Irving Shipbuilding says it has a solution to the problem and it is committed to the safety of Canadian sailors on the ships it builds and maintains for the navy.

"Canada and Irving Shipbuilding have been working together to address design issues that, under certain conditions, could contribute to the degradation of potable water systems on delivered ships," said Mary Keith, vice president of communications for Irving Shipbuilding.

Irving says it will equip the four existing ships with a new filtration system, and the four remaining ships under contract will be built with a redesigned water system that requires no filtering system.

Hansen says issues like this can be expected given the complexity of the build and the scope of the work.

"The most complicated things on the face of the earth that humans build is warships, far more so than even spacecraft," said Hansen. "There are hundreds of thousands of systems and sub-systems in a warship."

The federal government contracted Halifax's Irving Shipbuilding to build eight arctic and offshore patrol ships, six for the Department of National Defence and two ships for the Canadian Coast Guard.

Three ships have already been delivered, and a fourth, HMCS Max Bernays, is set to be delivered in the fall.

In a statement, Conservative MP and defence critic James Bezan said the health and safety of sailors is paramount but issues like this harm the reputation of the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Issues like these contribute to the overall struggle to recruit and retain members of the Canadian Armed Forces," said Bezan. "The Liberals must ensure this is rectified immediately. For the last seven years, the Trudeau government mismanaged the delivery of ships. Their failures and delays are forcing our navy to take extra risks with their existing equipment.”

The Navy says the water issues were first discovered in 2021. At this point, the HMCS Harry DeWolf and HMCS Margaret Brooke are the only ships that have been in operation.