Chatham-Kent (CK) has lifted emergency water restrictions, and more information is now available on why they were put in place.
According to Rob Bernardi, Director of Engineering and Compliance at the CK Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the CK PUC had a scheduled repair on the major pipeline that provides water to the Chatham water treatment plant.
Although the repair was completed on time and properly on Thursday, there was a hitch after turning the water back on. Similar to when the water is turned off in a house, when the water was turned back on, there were pockets of air in the pipes.
"We activated our staff to go through the air relief chambers. But unfortunately, there is some points in the pipeline where you can't relieve the air," said Bernardi.
Several officials noted that the water quality was not compromised, but the air bubbles created "havoc" when trying to treat water quickly through the water treatment plant.
The water reservoir holds roughly 35 million litres of clean water, which is only about 18 hours worth of water. Since the reserve was already being used during the scheduled repair, this hiccup meant there wasn't a comfortable level of water available.
"We were treating water. We just weren't treating it quickly enough to get enough out the door to consumers," continued Bernardi.
Bernardi also noted that they got down to a point where there were concerns that they may run out of water, which is when the emergency restrictions were put in place.
According to Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Dave Taylor, the restrictions were to avoid a loss in water pressure which could have led to a boil water advisory.
Officials explained that the reservoir is back at a comfortable level, thanking municipal staff, residents, and businesses for their help and understanding during this incident.
"We always seem to be in an emergency in CK. We're unfortunately becoming really good at it," said CK Chief Administrative Officer Michael Duben.
Duben added that in the coming weeks officials will do a debrief of the incident to see if the municipality can make any improvements when dealing with future emergencies.
The emergency water restrictions began Saturday morning and were lifted Monday morning.
