All of Winnipeg under boil advisory

Photo: Contributed - Century21

The entire city of Winnipeg was under a boil-water advisory Tuesday night after routine sampling turned up some potentially harmful bacteria in the municipal water supply.

The city, which has a population of about 700,000, says the move is precautionary after six water samples showed the presence of E. coli and coliform at extremely low levels.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we are issuing it citywide," Mayor Brian Bowman told a hastily called news conference Tuesday evening.

"Hopefully we will find out that these were false positives tomorrow and very soon thereafter we will be able to lift this notice, but we do need to be cautious."

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority initially said the advisory only applied to the area of the city east of the Red River.

City officials say the water samples were part of routine testing and were collected Monday at 39 public locations.

While five of the six positive tests were east of the river, one was in the city's southwest and Bowman said that led the city to expand its warning.

Residents are being told to bring tap water to a boil for at least one minute before using it to drink, make food or infant formula or brushing teeth.

But it is not necessary to boil tap water for other household purposes, such as laundry or washing dishes.

Adults and children who can avoid swallowing water can use it to bathe.