UNION BAY, B.C- There is no firm timeline on when the boil water notice will end in Union Bay.
That’s according to the Union Bay Improvement District (UBID) who replied to a list of emailed questions sent by the MyComoxValleyNow.com newsroom earlier in January.
The district has said there is no timeline that can be put on water quality notifications, except for specific situations, such as planned maintenance.
The current boil water notice was issued due to turbidity levels that were higher than the system’s current standard of one NTU, which was switched from a three-NTU limit in August by Island Health.
“The decision to lift the boil water notice is ultimately a decision made by our drinking water officer,” said the district.
As for what the district did in the past ten years when a limit of one NTU was exceeded, their statement read that any time turbidity levels exceeded the standard of the time, the health authourities were contacted.
The district also touched on their notification practices for the boil-water notice, after some members of the Union Bay area had been concerned about the way notification was handled.
“The emergency plan was followed,” read the district’s statement.
“All businesses were contacted as per indicated in the ERCP (Emergency Response Contingency Plan) and signs were placed as quickly as possible along with an updated notice on the website and contact was made with the media. There is no actual timeline for when these activities should happen. Being the first time UBID has issued a notice to boil water there will be some revisions to the process. We are happy with our response from time from the issue to boil all notifications having gone out (2-3 hours).”
The district statement also indicated that the UBID trustees did not have to be notified about the boil water notice. Instead, staff are meant to contact the chair of the trustee board, who is the channel between staff and the rest of the board.
Asked about testing being conducted on water from Langley Lake, the area’s water source, the district said that turbidity still exceeds Island Health parameters, and total coliform testing had results within water quality parameters.
The final question asked about when a report on the district’s turbidity tree would be available to residents. In reply, the district stated that their turbidity tree can be seen online, and in the district office.
An assessment report on Union Bay’s entire water system is still being reviewed by external agencies.
“This report must be approved by the drinking water office prior to release,” said the district.
