The mayor of Conception Bay South says a water main break has prompted a local state of emergency — and expects the town’s water tanks to run dry Tuesday evening.
“The situation is dire for water in Conception Bay South. We know that even with emergency conservation order and an order to close businesses, a state of emergency, that within the next two to three hours we will have no water in Conception Bay South,” Darrin Bent told reporters.
The state of emergency was declared before 2:30 p.m. NT Tuesday. In a post on its website, the town directed all businesses to close immediately to conserve water, citing water supply concerns at Bay Bulls Big Pond.
The town has also placed residents under a mandatory water conservation order, requiring them to limit water use to emergency needs only.
It’s the second time the town has been under a state of emergency in a little under a month.
“We just got over the forest fire scare, and now having to not use our water and consider, I guess, relocating, is a bit much. So hopefully things get straightened up quick,” said resident Scott Randell.
Bent said they noticed the break around 12:30 p.m. between Three Arm Pond and Three Island Pond, which feeds the water tanks in Conception Bay South and supplies some 30,000 residents.
The town is still figuring out how to help people access water in the meantime, as they’re unsure how long the problem will last.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s second-biggest community is under a state of emergency. Conception Bay South is expected to run out of water on Tuesday. As the CBC’s Heather Gillis reports, the main water line from St. John’s broke early Tuesday afternoon.
Leonard Hickey, owner of Hickey’s Greenhouses, told CBC Radio’s On The Go it puts his business in a challenging position.
“We were taken off guard, of course, I guess like everybody was. And fortunately on a hot day like this, I mean we start watering early,” he said.
“The concern is how long the shutdown will be, because we have a big inventory of plants on our yard. And we’re just very high risk if we don’t have water…we only have a couple of days that we can go without water, or we’re going to start losing stuff.”
Officials with the City of St. John’s, who operate the Regional Water Authority, told CBC News the issue is isolated to Conception Bay South — and that they don’t know when it will be repaired.
City of St. John’s communications officer Brandon Mullins said the Regional Water Authority and the city are working to address the issue alongside the Town of Conception Bay South.
“We need people to conserve as much as they can. It will make the water last longer. How much longer? I don’t know, but it is expected that we’re going to run out of water no matter what the conservation effort is,” Bent said.
Bent said he’s unsure if the issue will be fixed on Tuesday evening or even Wednesday. Even if the issue is solved, he said, refilling the tanks and recharging the water system will take considerable time.
Bent later told CBC Radio he would be surprised if the town had water in the morning.
He said the town will continue to update residents — especially since Wednesday is the first day of school for students.
“There’ll be updates probably early tomorrow morning. We’ll be in contact with the school board, and the school board will make their decision based on what we tell them,” he said.
Upper Gullies Elementary will be closed on Wednesday, according to a Facebook post by Conception Bay South Town Councillor Melissa Hardy.
Conception Bay South’s fire department has set aside emergency water, he added, and fire crews in Torbay, St. John’s and Holyrood are at the ready in the event of a fire.
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