1:30 P.M. UPDATE:

The Village of Chase says the issue affecting its water treatment plant this morning has now been resolved, and residents can return to normal water use.

As reported earlier, a power disruption this morning had impacted the plant’s ability to treat and pump fresh water, prompting a request for residents to conserve water until further notice.

Chief Administrative Officer Joni Heinrich has confirmed the unusual cause: a small bird — believed to be a sparrow — flew into a wire feeding power to the water treatment facility, causing an electrical arc and unstable power supply.

“Unfortunately, the bird was incinerated immediately,” Heinrich said. “There was damage to the wire, which created an intermittent power supply that confused the backup system — the generator kept kicking on and off.”

Because of the fluctuating power, the plant was unable to consistently pump or treat water for several hours. Work crews, electricians, and technicians responded quickly, and the system was stabilized within about 3.5 hours.

“It was a rare one-in-a-million type of incident,” said Heinrich. “But it’s helped us identify ways we can manually override the system more efficiently in the future if needed.”

At the time of the disruption, the reservoir was approximately 90% full, allowing the Village to maintain a continuous water supply. The conservation request was a precaution to prevent the risk of draining the reservoir and introducing air into the pipes — which could have led to a boil water advisory from Interior Health.

Fortunately, that scenario was avoided. “We didn’t have to involve Interior Health, and we’re grateful to the community for responding quickly and respectfully to our conservation request,” said Heinrich. “People were very accommodating, and we really appreciate it.”

While the issue has now been resolved, the Village says it may review whether additional safeguards are worth implementing to prevent such incidents in the future — though the mayor noted that events like this are extremely rare.

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ORIGINAL: It’s not expected to be down too long…

However, a power outage this morning in the Village of Chase has impacted the community’s water treatment plant.

As a result, the Village says they’re asking residents to conserve water until further notice as they work to get the system back in full operation.

The Village’s CAO says they have work crews in the water treatment plant, saying the outage may have caused some damage to the generators which should have provided the back-up.

Expectations are the system could be back up and running later this afternoon.

By issuing the call for limited water use, aside from ensuring there’s enough water available for people to drink, if water levels dip too low in a water treatment reservoir, it could allow air into the pipes.

If that happens, the protocol would be for Interior Health to issue a boil water advisory.

A boil water advisory could still a possibility once the system in Chase is fixed, regardless of the overall water usage.