Town of Gibsons’ first-ever ‘Boil Water’ advisory prompts uproar from residents

A positive reading for contaminants (including e.coli) in the Town’s water distribution system, discovered during routine weekly testing, resulted in the first-ever ‘boil water’ advisory issued for residents served by the aquifer system, (shown as Zones 1 and 2 on the Town of Gibsons map, right) on Friday afternoon, June 6. Following standard Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) protocols for notifying residents of the situation, Mayor Wayne Rowe issued a bulletin to local and Vancouver media, and the Town posted the information with regular updates to its website and Facebook pages. In the case of a similar situation in other areas of the Coast, The Local Weekly has learned that the SCRD and District of Sechelt would follow the same protocol for notification. As the Town’s Director of Engineering, Dave Newman, continued to conduct tests and work with staff to determine the source of contamination, he kept in regular contact, fielding answers to residents’ questions and debunking misinformation that flowed through the community, spread through multiple Facebook postings.

As of press time late Tuesday afternoon, according to an updated bulletin from Mayor Rowe the source of contamination had not been identified, and the boil water advisory was expected to remain in effect at least until the end of the week. During that time, Town of Gibsons’ first-ever ‘Boil Water’ advisory prompts uproar from residents Public Works crews will be flushing out the water pipes to clean the distribution system. Mayor Rowe hastened to confirm that this will in no way affect the aquifer, the source of much of Gibsons’ drinking water. During this work, residents may experience changes in water pressure, brief water interruptions, possible cloudiness in the water, and a smell of chlorine.

Area residents outside the affected zones, in true Coastal fashion, reached out to their neighbours with offers to share potable water. Staff at Gibsons Recycling Depot will assist visitors to fill containers from taps on their Venture Way site as long as the situation continues.

Due to an expected high turnout of residents demanding answers about the contamination and a perceived lack of effective action to convey the information to residents, Tuesday’s Council Meeting was moved to the Gibsons Public Market venue.

For more information and regular updates, please visit gibsons.ca or facebook. com/townofgibsons. The Local Weekly also posts updates to our website and Facebook page as they are received.

Heather Jeal, Editor