Nearly a week after a major feeder main break disrupted water service for thousands of residents in east Kamloops, Barnhartvale remains the only neighbourhood still under a Do Not Consume advisory.
City officials say the restriction remains in place because crews could not confirm the area maintained positive water pressure throughout last week’s outage — raising concerns contaminants may have entered the system.
Joe Luison, Assistant Civic Operations Director with the City of Kamloops, said Barnhartvale faced different risks than nearby neighbourhoods because of surrounding land uses.
“Since there is agricultural and industrial lands in the area, we had to stay with the do not consume,” Luison said.
The water main break, first discovered earlier this month, affected roughly 19,000 residents and about 7,500 homes across east Kamloops. While repairs to the damaged feeder main were completed last week and most neighbourhoods have since returned to regular water use or reduced restrictions, Barnhartvale remains under heightened precautions.
Luison said Juniper Ridge and Rose Hill were initially placed under Do Not Consume orders as well, but crews later confirmed those areas maintained positive pressure during the incident.
Barnhartvale, however, requires additional chemical testing before the advisory can be lifted.
“There’s additional testing requirements for chemicals that may have entered the system and that takes longer than just the bacterial testing,” Luison explained.
The samples have been sent to specialized testing facilities outside the region, contributing to the longer turnaround time. The city says results are expected sometime Friday, May 22.
“It is the focus of what we’re concentrating on as of right now,” Luison said.
To support affected residents, the city has relocated its potable water station to 1210 Eliza Road near the Barnhartvale landfill. The station is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., with residents permitted to collect up to 100 litres of water per visit.
Luison said the city will continue providing updates through Voyent Alert notifications, roadside message boards, social media and the city website as testing progresses.
While the city plans to conduct a broader review of the incident once the situation is resolved, Luison said the immediate priority remains restoring safe drinking water to all affected residents.
“We’ve been able to get some people in water and our target is to get everybody back,” he said.
