The City of Revelstoke’s chief engineer says any water issues people are experiencing should be resolved by the weekend.
The city posted a bulletin on Thursday warning people about potentially dirty water due to low levels in the Trans-Canada reservoir, which serves much of the downtown area:
“Residents throughout the City may be experiencing dirty water due to the increase in watering currently taking place that is draining the TCH water tank,” the city wrote. “The TCH tank is running low and the City has had to turn on the Golf Course well to let the TCH tank catch up.”
Mike Thomas, the city’s director of engineering, said the low levels in the reservoir were due to the replacement of the water main that leads to the tank from the Greely Water Treatment Plant.
“We’re having to fill the reservoir by the golf course well,” he said. “It’s not as efficient or as strong as the gravity from Greely.”
The city discovered a rupture in the water line leading to the reservoir last fall, leading to a $235,000 repair. They are replacing two side-by-side 300mm pipes with one, larger 450mm pipe.
Thomas said he expects the work to be finished today (Apr. 21), and the reservoir should start re-filling at a faster rate.
He said that while the city does have the back-up well at the golf course, a lot of that water gets used up as it passes through Columbia Park on the way to the reservoir, so the inflow to the tank is only a trickle.
The Trans-Canada reservoir is located just off the highway, almost directly above Mackenzie Avenue. Water from the Greely treatment plant gets directed to the reservoir before being distributed through town. Another pipe goes from the treatment plant to the Arrow Heights reservoir.