The City of Merritt says residents who live north of Nicola Avenue who have been allowed to return home no longer have to conserve water, though they remain on a boil water advisory.

Assistant Emergency Information Officer, Alan Stebbing, says the extra water will help crews flush the wastewater system which has been back up and running for a few days.

“What we are hoping is that people can get back to ordinary use and use their dishwashers, use their washing machines to definitely have some of that hotter water coming through the system to help build back the organisms that treat the sewage in the wastewater treatment plant,” he said.

“Crews have been working to restore the wells throughout this incident and they felt that they have enough water in those wells and in the reservoirs to move to this phase where we can start increasing water usage.”

Stebbing says people in properties in Phases 3 and 4 of the return home plan – those south of Nicola Avenue – remain on a do not consume water order. People in this part of Merritt are being told to not use water as crews are still flushing and testing the system.

Residents in Phase 3 are being allowed day access to their properties, if conditions remain favourable, while those in Phase 4 could be allowed back home for the first time this Friday.