Major repairs complete; clean water flowing again
Water not yet drinkable, but repairs were completed sooner than officials previously thought
Clean water began flowing again Sunday morning to thousands of homes and businesses in Summerland, following around-the-clock repairs to the supply system at multiple sites that all went according to plan — and well ahead of schedule.
While it’s still not safe to drink yet, water from the town’s treatment plant was turned on nearly 24 hours sooner than expected, thanks to time gained when the repairs began in earnest Friday night.
Kris Johnson, the District of Summerland’s works and utilities director, said the process of draining 3.4 kilometres of 100centimetre pipe between the water treatment plant and main work area took just five hours, not upwards of 12 hours as had been projected.
“So any time we were able to gain on the draining, we were able to continue the momentum on and snowball,” he explained.
“Fortunately, everything went as planned and we were able to finish on the optimistic schedule, as opposed to the pessimistic schedule.”
The main work site is a concrete vault under the roundabout at Prairie Valley and Victoria roads, where a wonky pressure-reducing valve had to be replaced. New valves were also installed upstream at Morrow Avenue and Sinclair Road.
While more repair work is required through this week, the water will remain on.
The water never really went off, however, as residents were switched over to a non-potable supply from two other systems for bathing, flushing toilets and even drinking if it was boiled first.
Most residents took the inconvenience in stride.
“Talk about first-world problems,” Brent Hayter said Sunday as he got a free fill-up of 20-litre water jugs from a tanker truck outside the town’s aquatic centre.
“People are pretty spoiled, I think, for the most part. So it’s nice that everybody realizes, ‘Wow, I guess we’re kind of lucky we have (clean water) all the time.’”
Hayter said his family bathed Friday before the water was switched over, then filled the bathtub with water to flush toilets to reduce consumption, and ate meals off of paper plates. “It’s just like camping,” he said. “I don’t think it could have gone any better.” The district’s Facebook page, where regular updates were posted during the weekend, was overwhelmed with similar comments that praised staff for the quick fix.
“You never expect it, so it’s a pleasant surprise at this point,” Johnson said of the plaudits.
“A big, important piece was that we got the word out there and gave everyone ample notice so this wasn’t a surprise to anyone. That, I think, was the key in getting as many positive comments as we have at this point,” he said.
Also, “I can’t say enough about the staff and the contractors pulling together. You can plan everything as best you can, but to have it executed as efficiently as it was, it’s just hats off to everyone.”
As of today, the town remains under a boil-water advisory as the fresh supply pushes out the nonpotable water that was introduced to the system, a process expected to take four to 10 days.
Johnson said daily testing will determine when safe drinking water has reached every home and business on the system, at which point Interior Health will deem it safe.