Update: Boil Water Notice Issued

Update : 3:45 pm

A boil water advisory has been issued for all water customers west of the Shuswap River bridge in Enderby due to high turbidity levels.

“The Boil Water Advisory has been issued due to elevated turbidity in the river, which is preventing the City from distributing water that meets Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines,” says CAO Tate Bengtson. ” The Boil Water Advisory remains in effect until further notice.”

The City recommends people boil their drinking water prior to consumption.

“Water should be brought to a rolling boil for at least 3 minutes prior to cooling and consumption,” says a news release.

The Boil Water Advisory for customers EAST of the Enderby Bridge remains in effect.

The City of Enderby has issued a Mandatory Water Conservation Advisory for all water users west of the bridge.

People are to limit their use of water to that which is absolutely necessary.

The city’s Chief Administrative Officer, Tate Bengtson, says this is due to last night’s storm.

” We’ve had a lot of turbidity flow through the Shuswap River, such that we’re concerned about our ability to continue making water through our primary source.”

Under normal conditions, the City is able to rely upon its secondary well source east of the Bridge.

” But because our water line under the river failed several weeks ago we need to try to conserve water just to ensure that we are providing for fire flows and public safety going forward.”

Tate Bengtson says the city just wants citizens to be responsible

” What we’re suggesting to people is that they limit their usage of water as much as possible and try and stick with their essential uses and if they can purchase water, we’d encourage that as well.”

Businesses are also advised to limit their water use to essential levels.

Bengtson says people need to take this seriously.

” Right now we don’t know if we’re going to be able to continue to make water, so we need to conserve what we have as much as possible so this turbidity in the river will subside in the next day to three days.”

He says if the matter escalates, the city will take some additional measures in order to provide for public safety and ensure there is some form of potable water available.