Zainab Al-Mehdar
Shawville Feb. 2, 2022
On Jan. 30 the Municipality of Shawville issued a ‘boil water advisory.’ They posted it on their Facebook page and asked residents to share the post. They advised that residents boil their water for one minute. As of Tuesday, the advisory is still in effect until further notice.
The Equity spoke to Mayor Bill McCleary who explained that the municipality found out on Sunday morning that there was an issue with the plug pipe on the water tower.
“There was a very tiny risk of the water used to thaw it out to get back in the tank, but by law, we have to make the advisory,” said McCleary.
He reiterated that there is absolutely no danger, that it is just a precautionary measure.
McCleary admitted that there was a lack of communication region-wide, as they only shared the information of the advisory on Facebook, which led to a portion of residents not getting the advisory.
To inform the rest of the community they are calling up residents and setting up an automatic system to help get the information out to everyone.
He highlighted that the freezing temperatures from the past few weeks contributed to what happened at the water tower.
The municipality announced that it will inform the public when the water is safe to drink. They will be posting about it on the Municipality of Shawville Facebook account, and on their website.
