Relief in Barnhartvale as City of Kamloops lifts final water restrictions after pipe break

“I’m happy its done, but it’s also disappointing at the same time [that money had to be spent on supplies].”

McCulloch was able to keep the garden centre and shop open this whole time, but no water meant the restaurant had to be closed from Tuesday to Thursday last week. It reopened on Friday (May 15) before the May long weekend, but water could not be used to cook or drink.

“We’ve had to bring in a lot of water when we cook our rice, our chicken, rinsing everything, all of our soups… everything is made with bottled water,” McCulloch said. “We’ve been going through an average of 10 bottles a day.”

Water issues began on Mothers Day (May 10) as a water main valve failure before it escalated into a leak and then a break. Repair efforts were unsuccessful last Tuesday, and it forced the city to shift to its Plan B of a ‘more robust’ repair, that was completed Thursday.

McCulloch told CFJC Today said the period from Mother’s Day to the May long weekend is usually the busiest of the year at her business, as the restaurant draws in the crowds. She added she’s grateful for the support from the Kamloops community as this past long weekend was record-breaking.

“A lot of people go away on a long weekend, but everybody seemed to come out to The Pond,” McCulloch said. “People were driving out from Westsyde, from all over the place to come out and support a small little local garden centre. It was nice to feel the support from the community.”

“It was really bad timing [with the water break] but we made it through. “I’m very happy [I won’t have to go buy water on Friday].”

Water use restrictions in Valleyview, Dallas, Juniper Ridge, Campbell Creek and Rose Hill were lifted on Monday, leaving only Barnhartvale under a ‘do not consume’ order. Water samples from that part of the city were sent for “specialized and rigorous testing,” and those results arrived a day earlier than expected.

“It has been a long stretch here,” Joe Luison, the city’s assistant civic operations director, told CFJC Today. “Unfortunately we couldn’t get everybody back into potable water right away but utmost care and caution is what we were trying to achieve.”

“It’s always nice to get the community back into water. We acted as quickly as we could to allow people to drink from their taps again in Barnhartvale as well.”

While pipe breaks happen frequently, Luison and his team are relieved to put these past two weeks behind them, as this break proved challenging to repair.

“With old infrastructure and pipe, we do as much preplanning as we can but there is always a chance something goes wrong with infrastructure,” he said. “Now that we actually have everybody back into potable water, we’ll start doing the lessons learned and review moving forward.”

Luison also said pressure on the pipe is holding “quite well” meaning the repair is “considered done.” He noted the potable water station on Eliza Road near the Barnhartvale landfill will be decommissioned at 10:00 p.m. this evening, May 21.

“We’ll also leave the signs out letting people know they can drink the water for a few more days,” Luison said. “We appreciate everyone’s patience in helping us get through this.”

Back in Barnhartvale, there is still some frustration over how the city reached out to residents and business owners. There’s also hope that improvements will be made should an incident like this ever happen again.

“I’m still going to be sending all my receipts into the city in hopes that they can help us out and help some of these small businesses,” McCulloch said. “I know of a lot of other small businesses that are really suffering right now.”

by Victor Kaisar

Relief in Barnhartvale as City of Kamloops lifts final water restrictions after pipe break

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