A boil water advisory has been issued for the City of Nanaimo.
Heavy rainfall this week increased turbidity, or sediment, in the city’s water supply. As a precaution the city is recommending water users boil drinking water for one minute.
“In consultation with Island Health, we are issuing this boil water advisory to all users of the water system within the City of Nanaimo,” said Bill Sims, manager of water resources for the City of Nanaimo, in a media release. “Once the system has cleared up and the Boil Water Advisory has been lifted, we will advise users. The City will continue to monitor and seek to lift the boil advisory as soon as possible.”
Water supply operations have ensured that its disinfection equipment is effectively disinfecting water throughout the system, according to the release.
As a result of this week’s storm, a total of 87 millimetres of rain has fallen in Nanaimo during the last two days. This is considered a two-year return period storm.
Turbidity is measured continuously at South Fork Dam, and as the water enters the system. Turbidity climbed from less than one NTU at midnight, to about five NTU this morning, according to the city. Residents may notice tap water is discoloured.
For more information and updates, please visit www.nanaimo.ca, listen to local radio stations or follow the city’s Twitter account @cityofnanaimo. You can view the full advisory here: http://bit.ly/1zc35hr
In addition, to assist residents in receiving this advisory, the city has activated its Emergency Call Alert System – a notification service that sends information to self-registered residents.