The city released a statement on Friday afternoon stating that Northern Health has cleared it to downgrade the boil water notice to a water quality advisory.
A water quality advisory does imply a level of risk with consuming the drinking water, but that risk is not serious enough for a boil water notice, or do-not-use water notice.
READ MORE: Watermains flushed to help downgrade Prince Rupert’s boil water notice The release recommends that these people continue to boil water as a precaution when drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, brushing teeth or making beverages or ice.
Unlike giardia, cryptosporidium cannot be treated using chlorination, so the city had to “demonstrate three weeks of satisfactory consecutive results sowing that the raw water shows no detection for cryptosporidium.” The clear cryptosporidium results combined with levels of giardia that can be effectively and safely treated using the city’s chlorination system enabled the boil water notice to be downgraded.
Ongoing monitoring The city will continue to test the water for both giardia and cryptosporidium twice per week for the “foreseeable future, until Northern Health determines it is safe to reduce frequency.” Health care providers in the city will also continue to watch for illnesses caused by the quality of its water.
Moving forward City staff is in the process of writing a report that will outline lessons that have been learned from the notice.
The statement said the information will be presented in February at a meeting of council.
READ MORE: Boil water notice in effect for Prince Rupert To report a typo, email: editor@thenorthernview.com.
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