Outage knocks out water

Photo: Contributed

The Regional District of Central Okanagan is giving some of its residents ample warning of a water service disruption.

BC Hydro will be cutting power to about 1,350 customers along Westside Road next Wednesday.

The outage will last from 6 a.m. until about 6 p.m.

The loss of power means water service to about 600 water customers in the area will also be impacted.

Those affected by the water disruption are serviced by the Killiney Beach, Westshore Estates and Upper Fintry-Shalal Road-Valley of the Sun water systems.

“With the planned, extended outage, we encourage our more than 600 customers on these systems, to conserve water: only using water when needed," says RDCO communications officer Bruce Smith.

"If possible, they should avoid doing laundry and running dishwashers during the outage, as these appliances use large amounts of water. Given the advance notice, customers should stockpile some additional water for household use during the outage by filling their bathtub or adding additional water for drinking.”

Another reason for residents to conserve water during this period is that should any of the three systems run out of water, the Regional District will have to put out a precautionary water quality advisory until staff can flush the system and conduct bacterial and chlorine residual testing, which could take several days.  

“We hope to avoid this by encouraging our customers to use water sparingly. We’ll be monitoring our systems throughout the day and will let residents know if any advisory is required.”