Boil water advisory lifted effective immediately, following power failure at facility

CITYnews halifax / By Dan Ahlstrand

Halifax’s water utility says the boil-water advisory affecting residential and commercial customers has been lifted effective immediately on July 3.

An estimated 201,000 people connected to the JD Kline (Pockwock Lake) Water Treatment Facility were placed under a boil water advisory Monday evening after an internal power failure at the plant allowed a limited amount of unchlorinated water into the system.

As a result, residents in Beaver Bank, Middle and Lower Sackville, Hammonds Plains, Bedford, Halifax, Timberlea, Spryfield, Portions of Fall River, Windsor Junction and Herring Cove were being asked to boil their water for at least one minute before drinking it.

Halifax Water Spokesperson Jeff Myrick told CityNews that two backup generators at the facility didn’t operate correctly after the outage, and they are investigating why they failed.

“Everything is well maintained at that facility,” said Myrick. “We have had numerous severe weather events where the power has been disrupted from external sources, but this is the first time we have seen anything from internal sources.”

Myrick said the system was offline for 25-40 minutes while the power was down, and that section of untreated water worked its way through the system as crews worked to flush it out.

Areas shaded in blue were under a boil water advisory on Monday July 1. (Halifax Water)