The North Salt Spring Waterworks District said a boil water advisory on the Maxwell Lake side of its system should be lifted on Thursday if water samples indicate the water safe to drink.
“We are still investigating,” said NSSWD operations manager Vaughn Figueira on Wednesday evening, “however, it appears that the water demands of the [Windsor Plywood] firefighting effort were such that our Cranberry watermain system along Cranberry Road lost pressure, causing some ratepayers to lose service. Because of the loss of pressure in the main, as a precautionary measure, we called a boil water advisory.”
The advisory was issued for all NSSWD users in Ganges village and south at 11 a.m. Wednesday. People on the NSSWD system in that area should boil tap water required for drinking, oral hygiene and other purposes for one minute. An Island Health bulletin contains more details.
The Upper Ganges Centre and Lady Minto Hospital do not get their water from Maxwell Lake and are therefore excluded from the notice. If residents do not know if they are in the NSSWD or get their water from Maxwell Lake they can call the NSSWD office at 250-537-9902 to find out.
Figueira said staff are currently testing the system and water samples.
“We expect that the soonest we would be able to consider lifting the advisory is now Thursday, provided that the test results indicate the water is safe to drink.”
“We would like to thank all NSSWD ratepayers for their patience and our hearts go out to all those that have been impacted by the tragic loss of Windsor Plywood,” he added.