The City of West Kelowna, in consultation with Interior Health, is downgrading the boil water notice for the Lakeview-Rose Valley System to a water quality advisory, effective immediately.
The Boil Water Notice was required to complete an important construction milestone to tie in a 600mm main that will eventually connect the Lakeview-Rose Valley System to the future water treatment plant. This work meant water may have entered the system without receiving chlorine disinfection. Without chlorine treatment, disinfection against microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa, etc.) will not occur.
Final tests were conducted and results have confirmed the Boil Water Notice can now be downgraded to a Water Quality Advisory. The Water Quality Advisory must remain in effect due to higher than normal turbidity remaining in the system from the seasonal breakdown of algae in the Rose Valley Reservoir. Increased turbidity can affect the chlorine disinfection process because bacteria, protozoa and other microorganisms can attach themselves to suspended particles in the turbid water, shielding them from the chlorine.
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In the following weeks, similar tie-in work will be completed on a 750mm water main to prepare for the eventual connection of the Lakeview-Rose Valley System to the future Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant. The City will issue more information as the date for that work approaches.
The Pritchard-Sunnyside System also remains on a Water Quality Advisory.
To determine if you live in the Lakeview-Rose Valley or Pritchard-Sunnyside System, please see our Water Quality Advisory Map at westkelownacity.ca/waterquality.
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