By Tracey Arial
www.thesuburban.com
A power outage stopped pumps at the Chomedey water plant two weeks ago and forced more 150,000 residents in Chomedey, Laval West, Sainte Dorothée, Fabreville, Laval les Îles, Laval sur le Lac and Laval des Rapides to boil their water for a minute before drinking it. They also had to throw out any ice cubes or food prepared between Tuesday morning at 5 a.m., when the advisory went into effect, and Wednesday afternoon, when it was lifted.
Emergency pumps should have kept water pressure in the plant strong, but they didn’t kick in. Officials are investigating the problem, but in the meantime they want residents to limit their use of water during hot periods for the rest of the summer.
“Despite the lifting of the boil water advisory, the City of Laval is asking for the cooperation of the citizens of the affected areas to reduce their water consumption for outdoor activities,” says a city notice. “To ensure an adequate supply of drinking water and preserve water quality, citizens are encouraged to reduce their water use for the following activities: watering the lawn and flowers, washing the vehicle or filling the pool. Please note that this request does not apply to the daily use of water for hygiene and diet.”
The situation is a frustration for a city that works hard to provide citizens with top-quality drinking water. The Chomedey plant got three stars from the Programme d’excellence en eau potable (PEXEP) last October and the Pont Viau and Ste. Rose water treatment plants received five stars each. To achieve five stars, a plant has to meet criteria that are three to six times stronger than that demanded within Quebec regulations for water quality.
To help citizens save water, Laval offers $70 grants for rain barrels and either $60 or $75 grants for low-flush toilets. Residents can apply for up to two grants every year. Homemade rain barrels are not eligible for the grant, nor are barrels or toilets purchased outside of Laval. For more information, refer to the application forms at:
www.laval.ca/Pages/En/Citizens /rainwater-barrel.aspx
and
www.laval.ca/Pages/En/Citizens/eco logical-toilets.aspx
The online notice for the rain barrels says that purchases have to be made in Laval in 2013, but the program was renewed, so grants are available until the end of 2014.
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