Alberta Health Services (AHS) is keeping the boil water advisory in place for Fort McMurray and surrounding rural hamlets until September 2020.
The advisory will not be removed until the Water Treatment Plant and entire 375-kilometre potable water distribution system have been flushed, disinfected and tested.
Homes and businesses in these area should boil water until further notice:
- Fort McMurray
- Anzac
- Draper
- Gregoire Lake Estates
- Saprae Creek Estates
Tap water that has not been boiled should not be used for drinking, cooking, making baby formula, making ice, washing fruits or vegetables, brushing teeth, or for pets.
Water in the affected area is safe for bathing and general use.
The advisory does not include:
- Conklin
- Fort Chipewyan
- Fort Fitzgerald
- Fort Mckay
- Janvier
- Fort Mcmurray First Nation 468
- Anzac/Gregoire Lakes Estates residences who use trucked water from the Conklin Water Treatment Plant
Indigenous Services Canada issued a boil water advisory for Fort McMurray First Nation #468 on April 27, 2020 in conjunction with the AHS advisory and has since then secured an alternative source if potable water which is being delivered to the community and is potable.
Residents who cannot boil water due to disconnected utilities can receive up to three cases of bottled water per visit to the staging area located in the municipal parking lot at the corner of MacDonald Avenue and Morrison Street by showing identification with an address in a flood-affected area without utility service or proof of registration with the Canadian Red Cross.
The Municipality has developed a plan with Associated Engineering to complete work that is waiting on approval by AHS and Alberta Environment and Parks.
The plan has five phases and is expected to launch on May 8, 2020 and anticipates AHS lifting the advisory in stages as each phase is completed and approved.
- The Water Treatment Plant will be flushed and decontaminated, which will take 10 days
- Temporarily installing flushing and diffusing equipment on fire hydrants and continuously flushing them for 10-12 hours per day to turn over water from the Thickwood and Timberlea reservoirs and distribution networks
- Flushing the lower townsite and Waterways
- Flushing Beacon Hill and Sapre Creek
- 20 -day final flush of the entire system
Phases 2-4 will take 30 days each.
More general information about how to use water safely during a boil water advisory is available online or by calling Alberta Health Services’ Health Link at 8-1-1 or 1-866-408-5465.
It’s recommended that if you filled containers and jugs on April 26, that water should also be boiled.
