The city of Longueuil announced late Sunday afternoon the lifting of the boil water advisory for the districts of Saint-Hubert and Vieux-Longueuil, but it remains in place for the cities of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Boucherville for now.
Posted at 6:09 p.m.
On its website, the city states that the results of the latest analyzes carried out by the Longueuil network are “compliant” and that citizens covered by this notice will therefore no longer need to boil water before consuming it.
The distribution of this notice became necessary last Friday after E. coli bacteria were discovered in the community’s water system.
The analyzes for Boucherville and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville are nearing completion, where the notice therefore remains in force for the time being, it is also said.
Longueuil says it takes more than 2,100 samples from its drinking water network each year. However, one of these samples was recently found to not comply with the Drinking Water Quality Regulation (RQEP) of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks.
This led to the dissemination of the notice last Friday to all cities supplied with drinking water by the Louise-Gravel drinking water plant in Longueuil.
“Two sets of 20 samples collected on two consecutive days must be compliant and free of contaminants to remove the boil water advisory,” the city explains on its website.
In addition, the networks connected to Longueuil must also adhere to this compliance. The towns served by the Louise-Gravel drinking water plant are therefore responsible for sampling in their local network, which explains the delay for Boucherville and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville.
Therefore, for these areas it is always recommended to use tap water that has been boiled for a minute in order to:
- Drink and prepare drinks
- Prepare bottles and baby food
- Wash and prepare foods eaten raw (fruits, vegetables, etc.).
- Prepare foods that do not require long cooking (canned soups, desserts, etc.)
- Make ice cubes
- Brush your teeth and rinse your mouth
- Watering pets
Bottled water can also be used for these purposes.
The city recommends throwing away ice cubes, drinks and food prepared with unboiled tap water on August 31st.
According to Public Health Canada, E. coli bacteria live in the intestines of certain animals and can be found in their feces. The bacteria can contaminate water if feces from an infected or pregnant person or animal enter the water supply, the federal agency said.
With Lila Dussault, La Presse