Halifax’s mayor intends to keep a close eye during an investigation into a boil water advisory in HRM that affected 200,000 customers for about two days.
A planned power outage Monday night caused an electrical issue inside the J.D. Kline Pockwock water treatment plant.
It affected Beaver Bank, Middle and Lower Sackville, Upper Hammonds Plains, Bedford, Fall River, Windsor Junction, Halifax, Timberlea, Spryfield, Waverley and Herring Cove.
In order to prevent something like this from happening again, Andy Fillmore sat down with the CEO and General Manager of Halifax Water, Kenda Mackenzie, Wednesday and laid out three things.
- figure out what happened, so it doesn’t happen again
- do a complete test of all the backup systems so they are ready to go and won’t fail
- a clear and transparent policy on when to use the hfxALERT system
Fillmore tells our newsroom, as far as he understands, when the power went out the generator kicked in but there was trouble with other equipment.
“The whole system, with the fuses and the pumps and the filters and everything else altogether as a system was not properly tested. They don’t have a protocol for that kind of testing. That’s what I want changed.”
He adds, the utility is currently working on a new backup system since the outage in July, which isn’t quite ready yet, but even if it was it’s unclear if it would have prevented this outage.
As for the alert system, it wasn’t sent out this time and according to Fillmore, that’s not ok.
“Some people got the alert through the weather app, but it wasn’t the kind of annoying thing that makes your phone buzz and vibrate. And, as annoying as it is, it keeps people safe. I’d rather have people mad at me and healthy than mad at me and not well.”
Investigation underway
Halifax Water is looking into what happened.
In an emailed statement to our newsroom, spokesperson Brittany Smith says the investigation will also have details on how something like this can be prevented in the future and it will be made available to the public.
The advisory also caused a major disruption at the QEII Health Sciences Centre when more than 220 procedures were rescheduled.
In addition to that, schools taped off their water fountains and asked parents to send water bottles with their children to class.
Feeling positive
Despite not being happy about what happened, Fillmore says he is pleased with how Halifax Water plans to move forward.
“I’m very grateful [for that] and I know she [Mackenzie] understands the work that lies ahead as well.”
He adds, he is going to keep tabs on the matter.
“I’m going to be watching very closely to make sure that the investigation reveals everything that happened. To make sure the backup systems are tested fully, not just the components of the system, but the entire system and that we get a better protocol on the emergency alert system.”
The report on the investigation is scheduled to be passed on to the Utility and Review Board, February 4.
