Village crews will be performing unidirectional flushing beginning Thursday, April 16, 2026, and this flushing will continue until further notice. Village crews will be performing this work to clear the water mains of any potential concentrations of manganese.
Recently, manganese levels within the Village Wells 2 and 3 have fluctuated between acceptable and above the Maximum Acceptable Concentration. As a precaution these Wells are not adding water to our system. Flushing is a means to ensure there are no pockets of elevated manganese levels located in the system, and general good maintenance of our water distribution system.
If you experience discoloured water at any time over the next month, please follow the following steps:
- Run the outside tap closest to the Village's water line for ten (10) minutes;
- Remove the aerators (screens) from your taps inside the house;
- Turn the cold water tap on and let the water run for ten (10) minutes; then
- Place the aerators back on your taps.
Residents that have water filtration systems on their drinking water are encouraged to replace their filters when we complete our flushing of the distribution system.
Your water pressure during this time may be low; however, if you experience no water/a complete reduction in water pressure, call the Village Office at 250-265-3689.
What We're Doing to Resolve This
Manganese levels fluctuate seasonally. At this time of year, levels within Wells 2 and 3 can exceed maximum acceptable levels. As a result, these Wells are offline and not feeding water to the system.
Council has approved funding for the engineering and design of a suitable water filtration system that will be able to remove manganese from the Well water. In the meantime the Village has taken the proactive step of turning off Wells 2 and 3 of the system. This means manganese levels within our drinking water are within acceptable ranges. Additionally, we are flushing our distribution system to eliminate pockets of water that may be discoloured from manganese oxide (the visible form of the mineral).
We are in contact with IHA about this issue. Anyone who has concerns about elevated manganese levels is welcome to contact IHA at Pouria.Mojtahedi@interiorhealth.ca.
Thank you for your understanding and patience as we ensure the best quality of drinking water for everyone.