On Wednesday, July 18, the Town of Niverville issued a request for residents of town to restrict their water usage—notably, to avoid watering their lawns. This follows a long lawn-watering ban in the spring, not to mention frequent similar requests from town council in previous years. The problem seemed to have been solved for good when the Town of Niverville hooked up to a new water source at the beginning of June.
On social media, Mayor Myron Dyck has called the latest water restriction the result of a hiccup in the new system.
“Town staff and our consultants have been working on restoring water service to its full capabilities,” reads a statement from town staff, issued at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. “The hiccup we experienced was the result of iron sediment that had built up in the raw water line. A sudden increase in consumption led to sediment moving along the pipeline and clogging our treatment plant. This has been experienced by others throughout the province during the first few months of use and an action plan for full restoration is well underway.”
The statement continues, “As some members of the public may have noticed, the raw water line was purged and cleaning is anticipated to occur in the morning. Once the cleaning has occurred and testing completed, the Town will send out a further update on restoration of full service.
“We would like to thank our residents for their understanding as your conservation has been noticed and minimized the impact of this hiccup in our new system,” the statement concludes. “The Town and our consultants are already updating maintenance protocols to continue to provide a safe potable water system and ensure events like this are minimized in the future for the residents of Niverville.”
Town staff have said that a further update will be issued on Friday.
