WESTLOCK –A strange taste and smell still continues to plague Westlock resident's water but it is still safe to drink.
Thursday, Nov. 21 the Town of Westlock released new information regarding a complication on the water situation in Westlock with residents experiencing an odd taste and smell.
“A contractor had opened an isolation valve in an area where they have been working,” said Robin Benoit, operations director for the Town of Westlock.
“We had isolated that valve for some time. The contractor opened it up to use a hydrant for their purposes and that released some stale water into the system.”
Town of Westlock operations is dealing with this new situation as quickly as they can.
Water testing is happening daily to ensure the water is safe for residents.
“The water is fine. The water is well within Alberta environments portable drinking water standards.”
Several tests are being done daily, including checking chlorine levels, which make the water safe to drink.
“Chlorine is used so there are no germs or anything like that in the water system,” said Benoit.
Benoit estimated another week before the water system is completely clear, forgoing any further challenges.
There was no way for the Westlock operations department to foresee this valve incident and the crew’s priority is to get this solved as quickly as possible.
The team is checking the vast network of underground piping proactively to ensure there are no other situations occurring to delay the resolution.
“There's no evidence of an odour smell or taste in our reservoir so it is working its way out,” said Benoit.
“We've got about 3000 cubic meters of water just under the town itself.”
That translates to 1059 tons of water. Benoit assured that the diligent team in the utilities department will continue to do their best to resolve the situation and ensure everyone’s water is safe.
“We've got to hamlets that we supply water to through the Water Commission," Benoit said, adding they are out flushing their water systems too.
