White Rock lifts boil water advisory

The City of White Rock, B.C., has lifted its 12-day-oldboil water advisory, after three successive tests for E. coli bacteria came back clean earlier this week.

Fraser Health medical health officer Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin confirmed Wednesday morning the city's tap water is safe to drink and use, and the city officially lifted the advisory around 7 a.m. PT.

The boil water advisory was issued on Aug. 20 after E. coli was detected in the city water supply. Officials blamed it on pigeons that somehow contaminated one of the city's reservoirs, located south of Vancouver.

The city said all residential customers whose phone numbers are on file with Epcor, the company that manages the water system, will be contacted by an automated voice message system totell them that the advisory has been lifted.

Apartment and building managers are requested to pass on the information to any tenants and residents.

Before using thewater, residents are advised to:

• Flush all water-using fixtures forone minute. Flush means run taps.
• Run all cold water faucets forone minute before using the water.
• Drain and flush ice-making systems on their refrigerators.
• Drain and refill hot water heaters set below 45 C (normal setting is 60 C).

Commercial customers should:

• Flush all water-using fixtures forone minute.
• Run all cold water faucets and drinkingfountains forone minute.
• Drain all cisterns and flush with clean water.
• Drain and flush all ice-making systems.
• Backwash pool filters and change media (filters) or water.
• Run water softeners through a regeneration cycle.
• Drain and refill hot water heaters set below 45 C (normal setting is 60 C).
• Clean and disinfect all shared toys and diapering areas.
• Run food-spraying sprinklers for one minute before using the water.
• Clean and disinfect all counters.