VANCOUVER -- Residents of a regional district on Vancouver Island have been instructed to boil their drinking water after heavy precipitation in recent days overwhelmed their local water system.
The Comox Valley Regional District issued a boil water notice Saturday afternoon, citing high turbidity levels in Comox Lake and the Puntledge River caused by intense snow and rainfall.
"High turbidity can interfere with the chlorination process used to disinfect the drinking water for the 45,000 residents served by the Comox Valley water system," the regional district said in its notice.
All users of the water system - including residents of the City of Courtenay, the town of Comox and the surrounding areas of the Comox Valley - are instructed to boil their drinking water for one minute at a rolling boil.
The notice does not affect residents of the Village of Cumberland, Royston or those connected to the Black Creek-Oyster Bay water supply system, according to the CVRD.
More information on the boil water notice can be found on the regional district website.
