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January 10, 2006
No more boiling water!
Thankfully, we're no longer under a boil-water advisory. Interesting, though, that the placement of the advisory was widely publicized, even making the weekend's edition of The Globe and Mail, yet we didn't hear about this until today. After the Walkerton water scandal, everyone's on edge when it comes to water contamination. Maybe I'm expecting too much of the popular media, wherein sensationalism sells, but I would've liked to have seen the same level of coverage of the lifting of the advisory as there was regarding its enactment.
The boil water advisory in Aberdeen was lifted Saturday, after further testing showed no signs of the E. coli bacteria.
A second test on Friday found the water was clear, but Public Health Services kept the advisory in place as a precautionary measure. Once the results of a third test confirmed the lack of E. coli on Saturday, the advisory was lifted.
Aberdeen Mayor Glen Ogilvy is pleased with the announcement.
"The water has always been safe and it continues to be safe and we're glad to say that," he said. "The good thing is that the system does work," he added. "It gives us . . . good practice for a potential problem in the future."
The peewee hockey tournament held in Aberdeen on the weekend went very well, despite the advisory, said Ogilvy.
Small pumps were brought in to get safe drinking water into the hot chocolate machine as quickly as the athletes and visitors could drink it. Bottled water was handed out, along with papers informing visitors of the advisory. Organizers "handled it very well," he said.
How the initial sample was contaminated is still unknown. An investigation of the area from which it was drawn and of the testing steps taken will continue. Also, said Ogilvy, the town will be double-checking its sample-taking procedure.
Source: Saskatoon Star Phoenix, 10 January 2006.
Posted by plainstext at January 10, 2006 01:20 PM
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