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After nearly 15 years of living under a boil water advisory, residents of D'Arcy can sip with abandon as the warning was finally lifted last Friday (Oct. 30).
The moment of release arrived after the completion of a connection to the N'Quatqua Band's water system for the D'Arcy community, moving the residents away from use of the untreated surface water supply that health officials said had been contaminated with E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria.
Len Clarkson, a drinking water officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, commended the groups involved in the solution — the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD), the N'Quatqua Band and the community — for working to find a solution.
“With perseverance on everyone's part, we were able to bring this together,” he said, adding that he thinks the regional district deserves credit for showing leadership and looking after the interests of the residents of D'Arcy.
Electoral Area C Director Susie Gimse said she's pleased the boil water advisory, which has been in place since 1995, “has finally been lifted.
“This is the result of a major upgrade to the water system and the collective efforts between the residents of D'Arcy, N'Quatqua Band, the SLRD, and infrastructure grants from the B.C. government. This upgrade now provides the residents of D'Arcy with clean, potable water,” she wrote in a statement to The Question.
Clarkson said the community had been under a boil water advisory since 1995, but the water quality “was unacceptable even before then,” with untreated water entering the system from a creek source that was contaminated by elements such as wildlife and domestic cattle grazing.
“It was contaminated with E. coli, so we were warning everybody not to drink the water,” he said.
Clarkson began working with the community on improving the water quality through treatment or various options, he said, and recently they hit upon the idea of the SLRD taking over the water system. SLRD Administrator Paul Edgington said the regional district took over at the request of the D'Arcy residents, after a petition garnered the sufficient number of signatures.
The regional district secured drinking water protection grants from the Province to upgrade the systems for both D'Arcy and Gold Bridge, Edgington said, and then discussed with the N'Quatqua Band the possibility of partnering to link the D'Arcy community with the nearby N'Quatqua water system.
“We've worked with them and we very much appreciate their working with the regional district to provide the people of D'Arcy with potable water,” Edgington said, adding that he's “very pleased” that work on both the D'Arcy and Gold Bridge water systems is proceeding this year.
The SLRD has entered into water purchase and capital contribution agreements with the N'Quatqua Band, Edgington said, under which the regional district made a contribution to the construction work and buys water from the N'Quatqua system.
Band Manager Rebecca Barley said the N'Quatqua were expanding their reservoir and, through discussions with the regional district, made it larger to tie in D'Arcy.
“Those discussions have finally come to fruition and they are tied into N'Quatqua's water system. It was a great working relationship,” Barley said.
The substantial construction and improvement work was carried out last fall and largely this year, finishing up about a week ago, she said on Friday (Oct. 30). An Oct. 30, Vancouver Coastal Health inspection report states the tie-in occurred on Oct. 5, and “current bacteriological sampling results indicate satisfactory water quality.”
On Monday (Nov. 2), Clarkson said he reviewed Friday's sampling findings with SLRD staff, who voiced their confidence in the system, leading to the lifting of the boil water advisory.
“Implementing a boil water advisory is a temporary patch pending either new source development or additional treatment steps… Resolving boil water advisories is a top priority for us,” Clarkson said.
Edgington said the old water intake has been retained as a redundancy, “if there's a malfunction, which we don't contemplate there would be.”
For more information on the status of drinking and recreational water in the area, including inspection reports, check out healthspace.ca/vch.
