The City of Prince Rupert has found the cause of the recent boil-water advisory currently in effect.
The City issued the boil-water advisory three weeks ago due to the discovery of total coliform bacteria in the drinking water.
Total coliforms may be due to the level of disinfection treatment, distribution pipes that are in need of maintenance, and challenges to maintain an appropriate chlorine residual within the water system.
“Right now we’re on a boil-water advisory because of local rain residual on the far side of town. We use a single source of treatment or a single stage of treatment, such as chlorination. So it’s super critical that we keep a clean residual throughout the system.” City of Prince Rupert director of operations Jordan Schmidt said.
Boil-water advisories are common in Prince Rupert. Residents have been taking their thoughts to social media, with many expressing outrage that this problem keeps occurring.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said he hopes this issue can be fixed soon.
“We want to get to a point where we can consistently have clean, clear drinking water because for the last 10 years we have been on and off boil-water advisories.”
One reason that the water quality is below standards is the age and size of the pipes, said Schmidt.
“The pipes throughout town are anywhere from 60 to 70 years old. They haven’t been replaced in a timely manner. A lot of them are oversized. So part of the process we’re doing right now is as we’re doing construction, we’re sizing pipes appropriately.”