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Lead issue resolved on BC Ferries vessel, water and food service restored

Click to play video: 'Lead found in water on BC Ferries’ Salish Raven vessel'
Lead found in water on BC Ferries’ Salish Raven vessel
BC Ferries has issued a public service notice about the drinking water on one of its vessels, something it failed to do last week when E. coli and coliform bacteria were found in water samples on two other ships. As Travis Prasad reports, this time, the concern is lead – Mar 28, 2026

BC Ferries says potable water service has been restored on the Salish Raven vessel after elevated lead levels were detected last week.

The organization confirmed that multiple recent water samples taken from the vessel, which sails between Swartz Bay and the Gulf Islands, met all safety standards.

Water on board is now safe to drink, BC Ferries said, and full food service has resumed.

Earlier this month, E. coli and coliform bacteria were also found in water samples from the Queen of Alberni and the Salish Orca, forcing a temporary food service shutdown.

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Potable water service on those vessels was also restored.

Click to play video: 'Water quality issues on BC ferries'
Water quality issues on BC ferries

“I think people should have confidence both in our testing, in the rigorous nature of our testing, but also how closely we work with public health,” Jeff Groot with BC Ferries said.

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“So BC Ferries is obviously, we do the testing, we get the lab results back, but we also rely on close collaboration with the experts in public health to identify where further action needs to be taken, where there needs to be broad notification, or where the concern might actually be bigger than what the case was in these instances.”

Last week, reports of brown water on the Queen of Cumberland vessel also prompted a system flush.

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