Wednesday May 19, 2021 | PORT RENFREW, BC [Updated May 21, 2021 & May 25, 2021]
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
This boil water advisory was resolved May 25, 2021, 10:16am
Residents on all properties on Port Renfrew Water System in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area should *boil* their drinking water until further notice, says the Capital Regional Distrsict (CRD) in consultation with Island Health.
This was announced mid-day today, Wednesday May 19. That followed notice from the CRD lab that same day about determining the presence of bacteria in the drinking water. The exact reason for the higher bacterial count has not been provided. The water treatment plan has apparently been operating normally and there have been no abnormal circumstances in the distribution system, according to CRD.
“CRD have confirmed all water treatment systems have been running per design, as well as completed flushing of the water system Wednesday and Thursday with followup water quality samples collected throughout the system,” it was stated by Matt McCrank, P.Eng, Senior Manager, Wastewater Infrastructure Operations, CRD.
“On occasions where we receive several adverse results in one set, our emergency response procedures involved flushing and resampling the system. We are taking another set of confirmatory samples this afternoon (May 21) and expect results from the lab tomorrow afternoon (May 22),” said McCrank in a reply to Island Social Trends on May 21.
The advisory will be removed when Island Health is satisfied that the drinking water no longer poses a health concern. At that time an ‘All Clear’ notice will be issued to customers on the Port Renfrew Water System.
Removing the boil water advisory:
The Boil Water Advisory (BWA) can be discontinued only after the following conditions are met:
- All corrective actions such as system repairs (if required) and system flushing have been completed and the entire service area is receiving treated and disinfected water.
- Two consecutive sets of system-wide samples collected at least 24 hours apart have satisfactory bacteriological results. The lab analysis of each bacteriological sample set takes 24 hours.
- The Chief Medical Health Officer of the Island Health Authority is satisfied that no health hazard exists in the system.
The actual timeline until the BWA discontinue notification is issued depends upon the duration of all corrective actions, the sample collection, sample transport, sample analysis and the possibility of a repeat of all steps in case of a failure of any of the samples.
Given those parameters, the boil water advisory would not be lifted any sooner than May 21 and (given the upcoming long weekend) will probably not occur until next week.
Boiling water for a full minute:
During this Boil Water Advisory, household tap water may be disinfected by boiling it vigorously for one minute. More information on boiling water here.
During a Boil Water Advisory, boil all tap water used for drinking, preparing food, beverages, ice cubes, washing fruits and vegetables, or brushing teeth. As an alternative, use bottled water for some of these purposes.
If your dishwasher has a hot setting, it safely disinfects dishes. However, if your dishwasher does not have a hot setting, after finishing the cycle, soak dishes for 1 minute in a solution of 1oz (30 ml) of bleach mixed with 3 gallons of lukewarm water (13.5 litres). Let dishes air dry.
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