Halifax Water releases preliminary report on boil-water advisory
Advisory lasted 2 days in January, impacting businesses, health-care facilities
Halifax Water is looking at improving communications with Nova Scotia Power and clarifying protocols for issuing municipal advisories and provincial alerts after a boil-water advisory in January affected homes, businesses and health-care facilities.
The measures are just two of 14 recommended in a preliminary report that was submitted to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on Tuesday.
The report outlines what happened and when it happened, preliminary causes and "corrective measures following the release of unchlorinated water into the distribution system."
The boil-water advisory from Jan. 21-22 was the second interruption at the J.D. Kline water treatment plant within a year. There was another two-day advisory in July.
However, the report says the causes in each case were different.
The July 1 event was "caused when the electrical safety systems prevented the main emergency generator from activating, and the secondary generator failed. This resulted in a loss of power to the chlorination system."
A backup generator did engage during a planned power outage at the plant on Jan. 21, but fuses for the service's water pumps were blown during the power transfer. This interrupted the disinfection process.
Halifax Water says all water treatment other than disinfection took place. The utility said it issued a boil-water advisory "based on regulatory requirements and direction from the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change."
Halifax Water said a final report will be submitted to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on March 21.