As a boil water advisory remains in effect for residents in Wheatley and Tilbury, more tests are being done in the area’s water distribution system.
The advisory has been in place since fire damaged the Wheatley Water Treatment Plant on September 13.
Municipal officials say the system has roughly 328 kilometers of watermains and serves approximately 8,500 residents. The PUC is supplying this water distribution system through system interconnects with other water systems and hauling bulk water to supplement supplies.
Along with ensuring the water system has sufficient pressure, there must also be adequate chlorine levels. The water must also be completely free of bacteriological contamination. When these conditions have been met, the boil water advisory can be lifted.
The PUC continues to work to ensure that water is available for everyone and ask that water conservation efforts continue. Water conservation means avoiding water consumption activities such as lawn watering, car washing, filling of hot tubs, and all other non-essential uses of the water supply.
Since September 28th, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent has given out seven semi-trailer loads of water to residents of Wheatley and Tilbury, totalling close to 170,000 litres of drinking water.
Bottled water continues to be available for pick-up in both the Wheatley arena and Tilbury arena parking lots. Hours of operation for the pick-up locations are 12:00pm – 6:00pm every day until the boil water advisory ends.