Canadian Third World

Due to heavy storms Vancouver, BC and the lower mainland has experienced high levels of turbidity in the water. We are now boiling our tap water. The water in my toilet is roughly the same color (colour in local dialect) as the outer brown ring in the photo. There goes most liveable city awards for the year.

Here's the advisory:

The GVRD Medical Health Officers are advising that “the turbidity of the drinking water supplied to homes through the water distribution system has reached levels unprecedented in recent years. As turbidity increases, there is a potential for increased risk of gastro-intestinal illness. Until turbidity returns to acceptable levels residents may wish to use an alternate drinking water source (for example: bottled water) or boil their drinking water.

Discolouration of drinking water is a very good indicator of high levels of turbidity. If using boiled water use a kettle and ensure that you allow it to cool before decanting to another container or moving it to the refrigerator.

TAP WATER IS ACCEPTABLE FOR USES OTHER THAN DRINKING, BRUSHING TEETH OR WASHING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

GVRD Staff will continue to monitor water quality closely. This advisory will remain in effect until the Medical Health Officer is satisfied that drinking water quality has returned to an acceptable standard.”

GVRD staff advise that turbidity levels in the GVRD’s Capilano and Seymour reservoirs are very high, and less so in the Coquitlam source, as a result of the extremely heavy rainfall experienced in the past several days. The region is currently discharging water from the Capilano and Seymour lakes in an effort to release as much of the turbid water as is possible. Inflow to the reservoirs is, at the moment, experiencing much lower turbidity, although additional impact can be expected from storms forecast for this weekend.