Vancouver residents receive boil-water advisory

Residents of Vancouver, North Shore and Burnaby, B.C., are under a boil-water advisory because recent rainstorms have muddied the Lower Mainland’s water distribution system.”At the recommendation of the Medical Health Officers, the boil water advisory is lifted for all areas except Vancouver, North Shore and Burnaby,” the GVRD medical health department said in a Nov. 17 press release. “Turbidity levels [muddy or cloudy water levels] for all other areas are at acceptable levels, because they are being served by the Coquitlam water source. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.”The GVRD said the heavy rains of the past couple of days had increased the muddiness of the waters in the Capilano and Seymour reservoirs on the North Shore.On Nov. 16, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) medical health department advised all areas in the Greater Vancouver area about deteriorating drinking water quality.”The turbidity of the drinking water supplied to homes through the water distribution system has reached levels unprecedented in recent years,” the GVRD said in its Nov. 16 release. “As turbidity increases, there is a potential for increased risk of gastro-intestinal illness.”Until turbidity returns to acceptable levels, residents may wish to use an alternate drinking water source (for example: bottled water) or boil their drinking water.”CBC has reported that more than 200,000 B.C. Hydro customers lost electrical power in a Nov. 15 storm that tossed trees onto power lines and dumped enough rain to push rivers to near-flood levels.The storm packed winds of 100 km-h, and the hardest-hit southern coastal areas included Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Maple Ridge.The City of Port Alberni was flooded with 130 millimetres of rain.