On July 26, the Town issued a Water Conservation Notice as the Water Treatment Plant (“WTP”) was exceeding demand. Residents were asked to check around their properties for any leaks, water surfacing or abnormal sounds in water pipes.
On September 5, the Town issued a Boil Water Order as the WTP was unable to keep up with consumption and was put on bypass in an effort to ensure residents had access to water. The WTP has the capacity to make 340GPM. On September 5, prior to bypassing the WTP and issuing a Boil Water Order, the Towns consumptions was at 248GPM and our water tank had 4M of water.
After our Public Works Crews conducted a thorough investigation throughout the Town, 4 leaks were identified and repaired as follows:
1. Marsh Road;
2. Sullivan’s Loop;
3. Main Road, just north of Birch Hill; and
4. Farm Road.
In doing so, consumption levels were reduced to 120-140 GPM.
In an effort to be proactive, while the WTP was offline, several sanitary procedures were conducted to fully clean the membranes of the plant in an effort to get the plant in top shape for when it goes back online.
Additionally, since water services were originally initiated in North Three Island Pond, there are no records to indicate that the screen within the pond has ever been cleaned. Therefore, the Town has engaged a diving company to clean and inspect the screen within North Three Island Pond.
The WTP was placed back online on Friday, September 15. Currently, we are conducting testing through ServiceNL and the boil water order will remain in affect until Service NL obtains the following:
1. Two sets of satisfactory bacteriological water samples;
2. Satisfactory free chlorine residual water sample at the entry to the distribution system; and
3. Free chlorine residual water sample detectable and maintained throughout the distribution system.
Water Samples are always available for viewing at the Town Hall during regular office hours. Alternatively, water sample results can also be found online at https://maps.gov.nl.ca/water/#PublicWater (https://maps.gov.nl.ca/water/#PublicWater).
Town Staff and Council are always available to answer your inquiries. Contact information can be found here: