Residents in all areas of Squaimsh except the Garibaldi Highlands and Brackendale are once again advised to boil water before drinking it.
The District of Squamish (DOS) issued a boil water advisory on Sunday (March 20) for Valleycliffe, Hospital Hill, Downtown, Dentville, the Business Park and the Garibaldi Estates water users. According to a DOS press release the advisory was issued due to high turbidity in the system. The DOS recommends boiling water for two minutes before drinking it.
"Our water treatment system is working however we cannot assure complete disinfection of the water," the DOS reported in a news release. "This advisory is a precautionary measure."
Regular monitoring of the system is taking place and the DOS will advice as soon as testing confirms the water is back to normal.Acting mayor Sonja Lebans said bad weather prompted the advisory.
"It was brought on by the great rush of water from the heavy rainfall and the snow melt," Lebans said.
Gord Prescott, the DOS operations manager, said the district is currently drawing water from two Mamquam wells and the Stawamus water intake. The three wells are going through a redevelopment and Prescott said unexpected problems were encountered.
"One of the pumps had to go for a little more servicing than we planned on and a different pump was brought in with a different propeller and it isn't adequate," Prescott said.
To meet the local needs water is being drawn from the Stawamus water intake.
"The Stawamus drainage in the last two major rain events has had slides or something up there," Prescott said. "With the rainfall we had on Sunday the turbidity went up and that caused us to be a little overly cautious. The forecast for the weekend is rain so we're still being overly cautious."
According to Prescott, no water is being taken from Mashiter Creek at this time.
The water in the Garibaldi Highlands and Brackendale areas is safe because water for those neighbourhoods is coming from the wells and no Stawamus surface water reaches those subdivisions.
Prescott said Stawamus water will likely continue to augment water from the wells for as much as two more weeks.
