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Water restrictions in KEB and Bluewater could lighten by the end of the week

BIM found a significant water leak in the Bluewater watermain system Friday. After the leak was fixed, the Bluewater and King Edward Bay water levels recovered nicely and stabilized said BIM.
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There could be some relief  in sight for Bluewater and King Edward Bay residents who have been on stage four water restrictions since May.

Bowen Island Municipality found a large leak in Bluewater’s watermain system on Windjammer Rd. Friday morning. This prompted the temporary shutdown of water in the neighbourhood of approximately 150 homes as BIM was repairing the leak, which they did by 2 p.m. that day.

Over the weekend, the Bluewater and King Edward Bay reservoirs “recovered nicely” and appear stable, said BIM’s interim director of engineering Glen Shkurhan in an email.

“This appears to be a significant breakthrough for us,” said Shkurhan. “This does not mean that all has been solved, but repairing this one leak is a big step forward."

Shkurhan said that BIM will continue with the testing of the four Bluewater wells this week and exploring other aspects of the system.

Starting Monday, a contractor is testing Bluewater's well equipment to see if equipment fouling or aquifer levels are to blame for low water flow. This will require removing one well at a time from contributing water to the system so BIM is still asking Bluewater and King Edward Bay residents to still be thrifty with water but the end of full stage four could be in sight.

“We will look to relaxing water restrictions through the week so long as the system remains stable,” said Shkurhan.

He also said that BIM is optimistic that they will not need to truck any more water from the Cove Bay Water System to the west neighbourhoods. On two separate occasions, BIM trucked water from Cove Bay to the King Edward Bay reservoir (which is linked to the Bluewater reservoir).