Ken Alexander
simplymastery
Cariboo Regional District (CRD) chair Al Richmond and the regional district staff are doing their best to try to get the Boil Water Notice (BWN) lifted, so 103 Mile residents can get back to their normal lifestyle.
Richmond said the CRD was hoping to start at the beginning of the new year.
"They had cleared all of the property to get a drilling rig onto the site and then it turned cold."
He noted the driller and the hydrogeologist were ready to go.
Last week, Richmond said he was pleased to tell the 100 Mile House Free Press the drilling had started.
Drilling started on Jan. 16 and the first well was completed on Jan. 18, Richmond said, adding the second well was started on Jan. 19 and finished by the end of the day on Jan. 21.
"Basically, we've had everybody set up and ready to go the first thing in the new year."
The temperatures warmed up, so we were ready to drill, he added.
Steven Robbins of Robbins Drilling & Pump from Okanagan Falls said he and employee Rob Crampton were just wrapping up the completion of well development of the second high-capacity water well around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 21.
"We are sending compressed air down and rawhiding [turning the air on and off, which disturbs the formation and lets the water column back down into the screen and that cleans it all out] the well and pumping all of the fines out of the formation.
"The process usually takes five to 10 hours – two hours per foot of screen."
The second well, which they were just completing, is 130 feet deep and the first well was 177 feet deep.
Robbins said the pump volume is undetermined until the pump test is done, which could be done in a month's time.
After the wells' pump tests are done and the quality of the water is tested, Richmond said they will look at the logistics of whether they could actually get the new wells online if it's possible.
"We want to see if we can alleviate the boil water order. That will depend on whether Interior Health will allow us to do that.
"We would like to take that pressure off the residents because there's no contamination in the system according to our tests. Our staff indicated that with the ground being frozen, it's unlikely we would have a problem."
However, the CRD chair said they wouldn't waste money on hooking the water into the existing system if residents would still have to boil their water.
"It will all depend on what the tests show and whether Interior Health will accommodate us and allow us – and if we can do it at a reasonable cost – to hook the new well into the system."
Boil water notice
The CRD, which took over the 40-year-old water system in late 2015, put the BWN in place on Oct. 19, 2016 when routine water samples showed the total coliform bacteria (TCB) levels were over the acceptable range.
Further testing was done and the water quality concerns were addressed at a public meeting on Nov. 8.
Interior Health (IH) environmental health officer Kimberly Porter told those present the BWN would remain in place until action was taken to reduce risk and a water treatment was installed.
Investigations found the wells were at risk of containing pathogens.
CRD environmental services manager Peter Hughes said the regional district's approach would be to upgrade the system with two new wells, a new pump house and electrical controls. The system would also need a flow meter, chlorination/UV disinfection and a backup generator.
Last week, Richmond said all testing since Nov. 8 has been coming back "clear" and without positive TCB results.
That BWN has not been lifted and residents are still dealing with cumbersome safeguards noted in the boil water notice.
Richmond told residents at the meeting that the first thing the CRD was going to do – even while it is searching for funding for the upgrade of the 103 water system – was to punch a couple of new wells as soon as possible.
That promise has been fulfilled.
