Winnipeg mayor uses social media to brief public on boil water scare

WINNIPEG – Winnipeg’s mayor personally briefed his citizens on the boil water advisory Tuesday night in a hastily produced YouTube video.

The 1 minute and 5 second video shows Brian Bowman in his shirtsleeves in front of a map, in a large boardroom where a sign reading “Emergency Preparedness Program” hangs in the background.

The video was shared on the mayor’s Twitter account, which was used for other updates after the city-wide boil water advisory was issued late in the day Tuesday.

Bowman says “Hi everyone, as you may have heard Winnipeg has issued a precautionary boil water advisory” and walks to a map on the wall showing locations where water tests showed the presence of E. Coli bacteria.

“The blue dots represent these sites,” he goes on and urges citizens to take precautions and seek further information from the city’s website and social media accounts.

By 8:30 p.m. the number of views of the video was at almost 300 and quickly climbing.