The boil water advisory issued for the Tilbury and Wheatley areas remains in place.
A boil water advisory was issued for the Tilbury area, including Coutts Line, Mint Line, Dashwheel Road, Baptiste Road, Jeanette’s Creek Road, Forbes Line, and Tecumseh Line, late Tuesday afternoon because of elevated levels of bacteria in the water lines. It was then expanded late Wednesday afternoon for Leamington users of the Wheatley Water System for the same reason.
The Wheatley advisory affects 3rd Concession Waterline Association, 3rd & 4th Concession Waterline Association, KOA Waterline Association, Richardson Sideroad Waterline Association, Tecumseh Road Waterline Association, Tilbury Townline Waterline Association, Cedar Inn Waterline Association, and Leamington (Wheatley) Distribution System.
Chatham-Kent Public Health is promising a more streamlined notification system for boil water advisories in the future because there was a gap of nearly 90 minutes between the initial advisory being tweeted and posted on Facebook and the email received by Blackburn News.
Cara Robinson, manager of Healthy Environments with Chatham-Kent Public Health, said BlackburnNews.com was the first to bring the delay to her attention. She said the boil water advisory that was emailed had to be updated with two additional locations, which caused the 90-minute delay. She promised to review the communication and notification procedures to better serve the community in the future.
She said she is not sure what happened to elevate the bacteria levels but CK Public Health is working with CK Public Works to investigate. Robinson said the water lines are being flushed and the boil water advisory will remain in place until two good samples are collected. Samples are taken a minimum of 24 hours apart and CK Public Health said the boil water advisory remains in effect until further notice. Another update is expected on Friday afternoon.
The CK medical officer of health, Dr. David Colby, is advising residents in the affected areas to bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before drinking it, making infant formula and juice, brushing your teeth with it, washing raw foods and making ice.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed, the medical officer of health in Windsor-Essex, said there have been no illnesses reported to date.
The streets affected in Wheatley are:
- Beach Blvd
- Carr Avenue
- Cotterie Park
- A portion of Fox Run Road - (addresses 2404 to 2418 Fox Run Road)
- Hickson Road
- Julien Avenue
- Kay Avenue
- Lakeshore Drive
- Marentette Avenue
- A portion of Mersea Road 2 - (addresses 2120 to 2235 Mersea Road 2)
- Miami Avenue
- Milo Road
- Patricia Avenue
- Pulley Road
- Silver Avenue
- Tampa Avenue
A map of the areas under a boil water advisory. (Photo courtesy of the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit).