UPDATE: On Monday, April 27, the town said the boil water advisory was lifted.
Officials in Crossfield, Alta., say a boil water advisory issued on Wednesday afternoon was a result of a valve being “mistakenly closed.”
The alert, which was issued at 1:30 p.m., remains in effect and applies to everyone who receives their drinking water from the Town of Crossfield water supply.
An Alberta Emergency Alert website was issued after the “incident” and officials were unsure if the water was safe to consume. Alberta Emergency Alert said Thursday evening it would be cancelling the alert, but the boil water advisory was still in effect.
In a 7 p.m. update on the town’s website, officials clarified the incident was connected to a water distribution system, saying a valve was “mistakenly closed as a result of incorrectly labelled plans from many years ago.”
“It was not caused by the contractors working on the Downtown Revitalization Project,” the website states. “This caused a loss of water pressure throughout town. As a result, Alberta Environment and Alberta Health Services requires the town issue a boil water advisory to ensure the safety of the water supply.”
The town’s mayor said the situation started with “some drawings that we were using that had been supplied to us by an engineer in the past.
“The drawings indicated there was a bypass valve where there was no bypass valve, so when we turned that valve down the pressure dropped in town — the water pressure — and so when we brought the pressure back up again that discharged some of the sediment that existed in water lines anywhere and everywhere,” Jo Tennant said Thursday.
“There was never a breach in the line, never infiltration of the line, so no concerns there.”
According to Alberta Health Services (AHS), there were approximately 50 complaints of no water or water discolouration.
As a result of the advisory, residents are asked to bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute prior to using it for drinking, making infant formula and juices, brushing teeth, washing raw foods and making ice.
“Water can be used for showering, laundry and cleaning non-food contact surfaces. For dishwasher use, individuals should use the sanitizer cycle function,” AHS said.
On its website, the town said the road at the intersection of Railway Street and Laut Avenue will be dug up starting Thursday to investigate and resolve the issue with the valves.
“The water lines were not infiltrated by outside contaminants,” the website states. “The sediment that some residents have experienced in their lines is a result of years of mineral buildups that were disturbed when the water pressure dropped and then suddenly returned.”
The town said the water distribution system will be flushed through fire hydrants over the next several days, as per Alberta Environment and AHS requirements.
During the flushing, the water will be routinely tested, and once the system is completely flushed, bacterial samples will be sent to labs to be tested.
The boil water advisory will then be lifted when those tests are all passed, the town said.
Tennant believes it could take up to a week.
“That would be the longest at the current expectation, that would allow us to flush all the lines, do the testing, have the timeline between the tests, have the reports come back from Alberta Health Services and of course they’re the ones that are going to give the OK to lift that,” Tennant said.
“We’re doing it as quickly as we can.”
“We are working diligently to resolve this situation as quickly as possible while following public health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the town added.
Crossfield is located about 50 kilometres north of Calgary.
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