Snow Lake’s water supply is safe for drinking again.
A boil water advisory for several areas of the community was lifted on Feb. 5.
The Town of Snow Lake and Manitoba Sustainable Development announced the advisory on Jan. 25. In a statement released online, water line repairs and depressurization of the town’s water supply were listed as the cause for the advisory.
“The process we go through is we get the water tested, we send it to the lab, they get the results to Sustainable Development, and we do another test within 24 to 48 hours,” said Ross Gilmore, chief administrative officer for the Town of Snow Lake.
A ruptured water main near Poplar Avenue was the original cause for the issue, first reported on Jan. 25. After an excavation initially failed to reveal the leak, the water main repair was completed on Jan. 27.
However, another water main break was reported the next day in the Sunset Bay subdivision at McGilvray Avenue and Lipsey Drive, causing a water shutoff for several residential streets.
Large parts of Snow Lake were affected over the course of the advisory, including Joseph H. Kerr School, the Hudbay Minerals camp and dormitory, the Brentwood subdivision and all properties south of Lakeshore Drive.
At different times, several area businesses, the school and the community’s nursery were closed due to low or no water pressure. By Monday, all necessary repairs had been completed and areas that had reported poor water pressure had reopened.
“It’s all repaired now,” said town official Ron Stoltz.
While the water supply for the Hudbay camp had been given the all-clear after a positive test result, results for the rest of the town’s water supply were delayed until Monday evening.
“Neither we or Sustainable Development can actually declare it as safe. There’s only one person who can do that and it’s the medical officer of health,” said Gilmore.
The cause for the advisory’s original length was not due to any issues with the water, according to Gilmore – it was more due to issues transporting the samples for testing.
“It was right in the middle of that snowstorm –
we typically send by bus. The bus didn’t even run, so we were delayed by a day getting them into Winnipeg,” he said.
The Town then enlisted a resident who ran passenger transport service out of town, but that didn’t work either due to the weather.
“We paid a lot more to do that just so they could be processed. As it turned out, they didn’t get out anyway,” said Gilmore, adding, “The best laid plans go awry.”
