Mayor Sam Sullivan today reminded residents and businesses that the boil-water advisory is still in effect for Vancouver, and will remain in effect until Vancouver Coastal Health and the Greater Vancouver Regional District deem the water to be safe again.
“The fact that our residents and businesses have to either buy bottled water or boil water is very unfortunate,” said Mayor Sullivan. “We realize this is causing inconvenience and hardship, especially for some businesses, and we hope the water advisory can be lifted soon. Meanwhile, we hope people who are buying bottled water will consider the needs of other citizens. There have been media reports of some shoppers hoarding water and not leaving enough supply for others.”
Mayor Sullivan went on to note that the GVRD’s new water filtration plant will help solve this issue in the future.
“This incident underscores the need for this investment. I recall that some people were initially against the region spending the money, but given what happened this past week, and that Vancouver may anticipate more storms, I believe the filtration plant will now be considered a necessary move.”
The Mayor reminded residents and business owners to pay attention to media reports in order to get up-to-the-minute news on the status of the water advisory. As well, residents can visit the websites of Vancouver Coastal Health (HYPERLINK “www.vch.ca”www.vch.ca) or the GVRD (HYPERLINK “www.gvrd.bc.ca”www.gvrd.bc.ca) to get current information as well as tips.
Mayor Sullivan also noted that in future, he hopes citizens will turn to a 3-1-1 system for help in the event of a situation like the boil water advisory.
“I believe this type of situation helps to underscore the important need for our City Council to seriously consider the implementation of a 3-1-1 service for the City of Vancouver,” the Mayor said. “Citizens have been telling me they didn’t know who to call for information about our water quality. 3-1-1 would provide citizens with a single number to call – 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in multiple languages – to access information and city services.”
The issue of implementing a 3-1-1 system to streamline service delivery at City Hall will be debated at the upcoming meeting of the City Services and Budgets Committee being held on November 30, 2006.
After Hurricane Katrina, the City of New Orleans’ disaster recovery plan included the immediate implementation of a 311 system to communicate with citizens as they rebuilt the city.
