Residents in Sexsmith could find themselves under a boil water advisory well into the weekend as crews continue to fix a water main break that forced the shutdown of the water supply to the municipality on Thursday.
Sexsmith Mayor Kate Potter tells mygrandeprairienow.com that the water boil advisory could remain in place until late Sunday or early Monday. She says the domino effect of the initial water break lead to the advisory being put into place.
“They shut down the [Aquatera Bulk] water station because it’s all connected to the same line, so that’s why the water station is not running. The water coming out of there would have the same boil water advisory that the rest of the water in Sexsmith would,” she says.
“There isn’t actually an issue with the water station that we are aware of, it’s just the water coming out of there cannot be guaranteed to be uncontaminated.”
Potter says thanks to the amazing work of volunteers, as well as the Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership, residents will be able to collect water and other necessities over the coming days. She adds, however, it’s a great reminder of the importance of having some kind of emergency kit in place when unplanned challenges arise.
“It was outside of our control, it wasn’t a planned outage… so to make sure you have 24 hours for sure worth of water and food that you can access that doesn’t need to be cooked or heated up is a really important emergency preparedness piece,” she adds.
Potable water will be available at the Sexsmith Fire Hall. Residents can bring their own containers and access up to five gallons of water per household.