The Boil Water Notice that was released by the South East Kelowna Irrigation District(SEKID) Monday, April 9th has been updated. It now asks residents to also reduce the amount of water they’re using.
The turbidity levels are at a very high level and by reducing the amount of water being used two things can be accomplished: Less of the sediment makes its way into the water system, and, when it’s time to flush out the system the capacity will have been reduced enough to handle a big influx of water.
The unexpected high turbidity stems from mudslides falling into Hydraulic Creek, upstream. “The ground is so saturated and there’s so much run-off, we’ve actually had 3 slides which have put a terrific amount of silt and particulate matter into the creek than normal,” said SEKID Board Chairman, Richard King. “Our crew has never seen anything quite like this, where the ground is so saturated and there’s just so much snow still to come. Anywhere where there’s a steep bank there’s a danger of slides.”
King says the slides all occurred in the last few days, in areas well away from homes.