A boil-water advisory issued for up to 11,000 households in Thunder Bay will continue until repairs are completed to the Chamberlain Street pumping station.
Residents living in the 2N section of the city, deemed north of Oliver Road and west of Algoma Street, should boil all potable water until the ban is lifted, said Michelle Warywota, director of the city’s environment division.
The trouble arose early on Thursday, when a pipe broke in the basement of the Chamberlain station, flooding the bottom floor and taking it out of service.
While Warywota said the timeline to have the facility up and running at 100 per cent capacity, work is being done to restore water pressure in the affected areas.
“We do have a pump running at our Chamberlain station that was affected early Thursday morning. We are making preparations today to get a second pump running on temporary service,” she said. “We’re hoping with that we’re going to be able to boost up the pressure even further in that zone.”
When it will happen is anyone’s guess, she said.
“We’re hoping we’ll get this second pump running quite quickly, at some point today. If not, then tomorrow,” Warywota said.
“It’s going to take some time to fill up the McIntyre reservoir, so we’re asking residents to still abide by restricting some of that non-essential water use.”
While the city isn’t in danger of running out of potable water, conservation will help the effort, she said.
“It will ensure there is water for (people in the 2N zone) and we can get the pressure up.”
Warywota said it’s too soon to determine either the cause of the broken pipe or how much it will cost the city to repair it.
