Hudson’s Hope water treatment plant still not passing tests

HUDSON’S HOPE, B.C. — Hudson’s Hope mayor Dave Heiberg says the water treatment plant still hasn’t met Northern Health’s requirements.

The Do Not Consumer order, placed initially on August 9th, cannot be lifted until the plant passes two consecutive water tests.

For now, anyone that the water treatment plant provides water to remain on a Do Not Consume order.

These samples are taken weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday and sent to Dawson Creek for Northern Health testing.

The Hudson’s Hope mayor says they receive the results on Friday and Saturday.

If these samples do not pass, more flushing will be completed, and an additional set of water samples will be taken.

Heiberg says that since the plant started on September 10th, they’ve been trying to get the water up to Northern Health’s standards.

“We’ve got about ten different locations that we’re regularly testing, twice a week,” he explained.

“Northern Health requirements require that we test 24 hours apart from each sampling.”

He adds that there have been negative results popping up that don’t follow any pattern.

“It’s just kind of one where all the samples are good, and then the second sample over somewhere else is not showing what it should show,” Heiberg said.

“So it’s getting a little bit frustrating because we don’t know why. We’re continuing to move the water through the distribution system, of course, and we’re continuing to chlorinate and do all the things we normally do.”

Heiberg says they have to keep sampling until there aren’t any negative results showing up.

“It’s not everywhere. It’s just a very, very isolated and small amount, but not enough to keep Northern Health happy,” Heiberg added.

He says the results from this week’s test are expected on Friday and Saturday, and they should be able to see “what the heck they look like” on Monday.