By: Zachary Hatcher
Special to the Wreckhouse Weekly
ROSE BLANCHE – HARBOUR LE COU – The community of Rose Blanche – Harbour Le Cou has been under a boil water advisory for a little over a year. The advisory was first issued on Mar. 18, 2020 according to the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment.
The boil order was first implemented because the water distribution system was undergoing maintenance or repairs. The town mayor, Clayton Durnford, shared some details surrounding the initial advisory and why the process for getting it lifted has taken over a year.
“That’s when they were doing the upgrade over in the pumphouse, so they did the job and they moved out, but we had a lot of problems after with the leaks and pipes coming apart,” said Durnford.
In fact, the repairs and upgrades to the system took over two years thanks to a variety of unforeseeable and unavoidable factors, including weather and supply delays.
“Anytime you’ve got to take apart the water line to fix a problem, whether it’s just an ordinary leak in the water line throughout the community, that’s what our job is – fix the leak and automatically put on the boil order. And then the boil order has got to stay on until the professional comes and checks the water in two or three different places, like probably in the Town Hall and Strickland’s Point, and see if you’re picking up all the same readings.”
Concluded Durnford, “We can put on the boil order, but we can’t take it off.”
Residents were previously able to access clean water from a self-serve water refill station located inside of D.J’s Convenience Ltd., but access to the refill station was lost when the store closed for business. The town was able to obtain the refill station.
“We couldn’t very well just let it vanish,” said Durnford.
Residents access clean water via the station that has been relocated to the town office. It’s unclear when the boil water advisory will be lifted. The town must have two good sample readings before that can happen.