Two days after Halifax Water issued a boil-water advisory for roughly 200,000 residents across the HRM, the utility says it’s safe to drink water from the tap again. The advisory, which initially covered all residents serviced by the Pockwock water treatment facility—and included all of peninsular Halifax, along with large swaths of Bedford, Middle and Lower Sackville, Timberlea, Spryfield, Fall River, Waverley, Windsor Junction, Hammonds Plains and Herring Cove—had been in effect since the morning of Tuesday, Jan 21. Halifax Water lifted the advisory at 9am on Thursday, Jan 23.
The advisory’s lifting brings an end to a ripple of unexpected closures earlier this week, from some small businesses and daycares closing Tuesday, citing unsafe drinking water, to the QEII Health Sciences Centre postponing roughly 145 surgeries and endoscopies, as CBC News has reported. At one point on Wednesday, a source tells The Coast, the IWK Hospital ran out of bottled water to give to patients in labour and in the maternity ward.
The boil-water advisory stemmed from a power outage at the Pockwock Lake facility, which had been running on generators during a planned power outage. But a fuse blew, Halifax Water spokesperson Brittany Smith told Global News. In turn, water passed through the plant’s system without going through chlorine treatment—a step used to kill water-borne bacteria, viruses and other pathogens that could cause infections. Smith called the incident “unfortunate timing,” adding that Halifax Water is “actually only a few days away” from installing a system that would chlorinate water without power.
In a Thursday morning news release, the utility service confirms that “all drinking water samples” have since “met the requirements” set by Nova Scotia Environment and Climate Change and the Medical Officer of Health, and that it is lifting the roughly 48-hour advisory “effective immediately.”
Review board calls for investigation
The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has called for an investigation into how Halifax Water’s power failure happened without safeguards. A report is due Feb 4 with a “review of what occurred and recommendations to ensure it does not happen again.” Halifax mayor Andy Fillmore posted on social media that he met with Halifax Water general manager Kenda Mackenzie on Wednesday, and that he has also asked for an investigation, as well as for that investigation’s results to be made public. (Whether Fillmore’s proposed investigation would be a separate one from the NSUARB’s or the same remains to be seen.) Fillmore says he’s also asked for a “new, transparent, and predictable protocol” for the HRM’s emergency alert system.
This week’s boil-water advisory is the second the utility has issued for the same HRM residents in the last seven months. On July 1, 2024, an “internal power failure” at the Pockwock facility led to a “limited amount” of unchlorinated water passing through the system, prompting a 40-hour boil-water advisory.
Speaking with CTV News this week, premier Tim Houston called the most recent boil-water advisory a “complete embarrassment” and said that he’s looking into whether the province can recoup any financial losses from Halifax Water.
This article appears in Dec 19, 2024 – Jan 31, 2025.