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A boil water advisory affecting tens of thousands of people in Sudbury, that spurred a run on bottled water in the city, will remain in effect until at least Friday evening.
Public Health Sudbury and Districts brought in a boil water advisory for Sudbury, New Sudbury, Falconbridge and parts of Garson on Wednesday evening after detecting total coliforms in water samples.
Officials issued another statement Thursday evening saying they had received the first set of tests from both the David St. and Falconbridge treatment plants and that they “were negative for both total coliforms and E. coli and showed no evidence of bacterial growth” according to the release.
Public health has to wait for a second set of test results before lifting the boil water advisory and they expect to have those by Friday evening.
Speaking on CBC radio program Up North on Thursday, Shawn Chretien, Sudbury’s director of water and wastewater treatment and compliance, described the city’s reaction.
“When we received the adverse results Wednesday, we of course increased the chlorine and did some flushing in the system. We checked our plants and we did not find anything unusual. So we submitted some new results. And now, because of the nature of the test, it’s just a matter of waiting for them to come back from the lab,” he said.
Chretien was also asked if he thinks it’s possible that the samples taken were somehow compromised, and gave false results.
“That is a possibility. We don’t know yet, but it could be a contamination in the sampling,” he said, noting the city is doing their own investigation.
Chretien also said the test results were not likely related to the high water from snowmelt seen in recent weeks.
“No, we don’t think so, because the area of concern was treated water from Ramsey Lake. We did not get any hits or adverse results at the plant itself. We always test the outlet of the plant or at sites closest to the plant. Because of where it’s located, this is a very unusual occurrence,” he said.
‘Really difficult’
Meanwhile, as public health officials await more test results, they acknowledge that the current situation can be making people anxious.
The associate medical officer of health for Public Health Sudbury and Districts, Dr. Emily Groot, offered her gratitude for people’s patience and understanding.
“I just want to say thank you to the community. This is really difficult. We’re used to turning on our taps and having safe, clean water to drink, and right now that’s in question,” she said.
“I know that this can be anxiety provoking, so thanks to everybody for supporting each other, supporting their neighbors, supporting their families through this difficult time.”
People are advised to heat water to a rolling boil for one minute before consuming.
