Town hall to be held for residents of Hudson’s Hope on failing water plant

HUDSON’S HOPE, B.C. – A town hall will be held in Hudson’s Hope Wednesday night to update residents on their new, failing water treatment plant and the resulting boil water notice.

The town hall is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. at the community hall.

The plant’s reverse osmosis treatment system—which treat the water after it’s pulled from an underground aquifer—failed last week, resulting in a need to bypass the system to ensure the amount of water the community needs is supplied.

Northern Health put the community under a boil water advisory to ensure “that the bacteriological risks to the public were addressed.”

A Do Not Consume order (a higher level of precaution) may be considered if there are delays in putting the system back online.

“The system continues to be assessed to determine if a higher level of advisory is required to address potential long-term health risks that may be associated with chemicals or metals in the source water,” the health authority said in an update.

While the filters are not functioning, water is rerouted directly into the pipes with little treatment (the aeration filter that removes H2S in the water is still operating).

Replacement filters other supplies are on order and expected to arrive sometime in the next week.

Drinking water is being hauled into the community from Chetwynd and Fort St. John and provided to residents for free while the advisory is in effect.

The new system, which was put in place in February 2021, has struggled since it opened. A boil water advisory was also handed down last summer after unacceptable levels of E. Coli were detected. More recently, residents petitioned against high levels of chlorine in the water 

The shift from Hudson’s Hope’s previous water source (the Peace River) was determined necessary in anticipation of the Site C dam’s construction and its effect on the river.