No change to BOIL WATER ORDER notice, but City takes steps for day when notice is lifted

The City of Prince Rupert has provided its latest update on the Boil Order Notice that has been in effect in the city since December 14th, noting that while the BOIL ORDER is still in effect that city crews are taking some steps in anticipation of the day it is lifted.

In the latest Update posted to the City's website this morning, the city notes the following:

The Boil Water Notice remains in effect, but you may notice that City crews are out starting today to begin to flush local watermains.

This step assists in removing stale or stagnant water from pipes, and will speed up the process of downgrading of the Notice, in the event that Northern Health provides approval. Please note that flushing may impact the aesthetic quality of the water during flushing activities.

It is possible the water may look a little milky, or there may be sediment stirred up. Run taps until they are clear if you experience this.

 The City has seen significant improvements in test results, and will be meeting with Northern Health mid-week to determine if these results are satisfactory to downgrade the Notice to a Water Quality Advisory.

The advisory also provides a synopsis of the differences between a Boil Water Notice and Water Quality Advisory. As well, the latest update also notes that the City and Northern Health continue to conduct and monitor the testing program:

In conjunction with Northern Health, the City will continue to closely monitor test results, retaining a test schedule of 2X a week for the near future. Health care providers also continue to monitor for any illnesses directly related to water quality. Northern Health is currently working to determine an appropriate test schedule over the longer term. We thank the residents for your patience during this time, and look forward to downgrading the Notice as soon as possible. '

So far however, the City is holding firm to its decision not to post those results to the City website, a move which might provide some context for the public as to the timeline of the testing process and the nature of the results that it delivers.

Also not explained in today's announcement on water flushing, is how the program underway today, differs if it does, from the regular flushing that the city crews conduct on a regular basis around the city.

The latest advisory comes following Mayor Lee Brain's most recent Facebook post of Thursday, with the Mayor holding out some hope that the test results were improving and the boil order would soon be lifted.

Today's advisory was delivered to the City's Website and Facebook page, it was also delivered by way of the City's mobile app system.

You can review some of the past notes since the Boil Water Notice was first put in place in December from our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.