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Muddy water has triggered a precautionary boil-water advisory for four communities serviced by Hay River’s water treatment plant.
On Sunday, the NWT’s chief environmental officer advised residents in Hay River, Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Enterprise and Kakisa to boil water for at least one minute before drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, brushing teeth, or using it to prepare food, hot and cold beverages, and ice cubes.
Residents do not need to boil water for other household purposes, like showering, the GNWT said.
The GNWT said the boil water advisory is precautionary as the treatment plant cannot currently properly treat water due to very high turbidity in the source water. It said the community is working to solve the issue as soon as possible.
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The advisory said no illnesses have been reported because of the issue in any of the communities.
The GNWT said using bottled water, distillation, reverse osmosis, or filtering water with a filter size of 1 micron absolute or less are other methods that can be used to treat water.
The boil water advisory said activated carbon water filters, like Brita filters, are not safe ways to treat water because they do not disinfect water.
