District of Clearwater has issued a water quality advisory and a water conservation notice. Both are effective immediately.
It's not a boil order, which is for everyone,” said District chief administrative officer Leslie Groulx. “A water advisory is primarily directed at the elderly, pregnant women and their unborn, children under the age of two, people with AIDS, cancer, diabetes or kidney disease and people being treated with immuno-suppressing medications.”
People with weak immune systems might want to consider boiling their water or using another source, such as bottled water.
The municipality is also asking everyone to conserve water.
"That means don't water your lawn or otherwise waste water. There's been plenty of rain lately. Just use common sense,” Groulx said.
The problem is that Well #2 will not be online for up to one week due to mechanical issues, she said. Well #2 is located across the road from Dutch Lake beach.
“The variable frequency drive is not working and must be replaced ... and the replacement must come Montreal,” Groulx said.
The drive is the mechanism that tells the pump when to pump, based on the amount of water in the reservoir.
This puts the District using Well #1 as the first priority. However, with the current community use the reservoir levels are 56 per cent.
This means that Well #1 is not keeping up to the current water demand, which has prompted the water conservation notice. The notice is being delivered by hand to each residence on the water system, this will be widely distributed and is being hand delivered to each water user on the system, said the CAO.
Because Well #2 is not working, the District has also put the surface water system online. Normally, the water from Russell and Hascheak creeks is not used at this time of year, due to sediment in the water.
“As a precaution IHA has asked that we do a water quality advisory notice due to turbidity levels from freshet – these notices are being hand delivered as well as direct calls,” said Groulx.
The water is still being treated but the sediment in the water can mean the treatment is not as effective as it otherwise might be.
The water quality advisory will be rescinded as soon as the District is able to do so.
“Office staff are calling the high risk places such as the daycare, hospital, evergreen, etc. and key businesses such as the motel/hotels, restaurants, and fan from there,” Groulx said. “The car wash and Laundromat have been contacted.”
Groulx noted that the municipality is fortunate to have several sources of water to draw from.
