Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand is thanking residents for making “substantial efforts” to reduce their water consumption as the city undertakes major repairs on a water main in the Les Rivières borough.
Marchand said during a scrum Thursday that in the last couple of days, residents “had the decency, thoughtfulness and sense of community” to cut their water intake by 20 per cent.
The city has temporarily banned residents of five boroughs from using water for various outdoor purposes, including watering the lawn, washing vehicles, spraying down driveways and alleys and filling pools in order to maintain the quality of drinking water.
“It worked and it helped us to provide clean water, good water for all the citizens,” Marchand told reporters. “We didn’t have any troubled water episodes in the last 48 hours and it’s because of the citizens, the work they have done to reduce their own water consumption.”
Anyone who flouts the restrictions are subject to a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first offence and $2,000 for a repeat offence.
He added that crews will continue working on repairs into the weekend with the aim of finishing by July 5.
Repairs to the water main, which provides drinking water to much of the population, started on June 26.
The restrictions affect 12 different sectors across five boroughs, where about 175,000 people live.
The affected sectors:
- Lebourgneuf.
- L’Ormière.
- Felix-Leclerc.
- Ancienne-Lorette.
- Duberger.
- Vanier.
- Université Laval.
- Saint-Sacrement.
- Sillery.
- Haute-Ville.
- Vieux Québec.
- Saint-Roch.
Drinking cloudy water isn’t recommended
Seemingly conflicting messages between Marchand’s office and the regional health authority had stirred confusion about whether cloudy water was safe to drink.
At a news conference Tuesday, Marchand said, “it’s not a problem to drink troubled water, but it’s not fun. It’s not the taste we are looking for.”
But the same day, the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale published a news release, emphasizing that cloudy water should not be consumed or used to prepare food for babies, ice cubes or drinks such as juice, tea and coffee.
It said that kind of water could be used for personal hygiene, including washing hands.
Marchand told reporters Thursday that his office and the CIUSSS are “saying the same thing” since there is no “imminent danger” from drinking cloudy water.
“We don’t recommend drinking troubled or cloudy water,” he said. “It’s not lethal though.”
The mayor is reminding residents to have a supply of water for their household for up to 48 hours (about 1.5 litres per person per day) in the event drinkable tap water is unavailable.
Since the repairs started, there have been no reports of cloudy water in Quebec City, Marchand said.
If residents find their water cloudy, they should contact 311 to alert the city, which will flush the aqueduct network during the night.