A day of challenges ahead for residents and staff with the District of Clearwater in the North Thompson.

The community — along with around 14,000 homes in the region running from Barriere to Blue River — is without power this Sunday due to a planned power outage by BC Hydro.

Despite an earlier plea from the Mayor for people in the community to store and conserve water ahead of time, it seems maintaining water supplies for the day in Clearwater may not be possible.

“BC Hydro has initiated a planned power outage today, October 6th, from 7 AM to 7 PM. Prior to the outage, District staff were closely monitoring water reservoir levels, which were at 80%,” noted the District in a notification on its Facebook page.

“Unfortunately, within an hour of the power going out, the reservoir was fully drained.”

It goes on to say that crews are working to identify the cause of water loss, and have activated their Emergency Operations Center as a result.

“At present, the gravity-fed fresh water intake is maintaining water pressure in the system, but we caution that it may not last throughout the day,” said the District.

A Boil Water Advisory for Clearwater is now in effect.