Is there a boil water notice on this BC property's water?

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Accepted Answer

Ask the water system and the regional health authority whether a boil water notice or other advisory is in effect or has been; most long-running notices are on small systems. Water from a community, strata, improvement district or other shared system is overseen by the regional health authority. When the water may not be safe, the supplier tells its users, often at the health authority's direction, to boil it or take other care. A report doesn't show these notices, as no list of them is open data we may reuse, so a buyer asks. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Three levels: The Province names three notifications, from least to most serious. A water quality advisory is used where the threat to health is modest and can be lowered without boiling. A boil water notice is used where the threat is significant and boiling the water deals with it. A do not use water notice is used where a significant threat can't be dealt with by either (the Province's water quality notifications page). Why one is issued: The Province lists triggers such as indicator bacteria like E. coli in a sample, a treatment failure, a water main break, a cross connection, contamination of a reservoir, or water-borne illness in the community. Island Health names high turbidity, microbial contamination and inadequate disinfection as the commonest reasons for a boil water notice. Who issues it: The regional health authorities run the Drinking Water Protection Act and are responsible for notifications about drinking water. A laboratory that finds E. coli in a monitoring sample must tell the water supplier, the drinking water officer and the medical health officer at once (Act s. 12 (1); Regulation s. 9 (1)), unless the water is already under a boil water advisory (Regulation s. 9 (2) (c)). A supplier must also report any threat likely to make its water unsafe (Act s. 13 (1)). The drinking water officer may then request or order the supplier to give public notice in a way the officer approves (s. 14 (1)). A supplier that can't reach the officer must warn its users itself at once (s. 14 (2)). So a notice can come from the supplier, or from the supplier at the health authority's direction (Island Health). Lifting it: The drinking water officer tells the supplier when testing or other safeguards show the water is safe to drink without boiling, and the supplier must tell every user that the notice is lifted (the Province's page). Island Health then advises running each tap and water-using fixture for one minute. What a boil water notice asks: Fraser Health advises boiling water for at least one minute before using it to drink, cook, brush teeth, wash dishes or wash fruit and vegetables eaten raw. A home filter may not be enough: ask the health authority's drinking water officer whether you still need to boil (the Province's page). A public place served by the water, such as a shop or campground, must post a sign at every sink and drinking fountain the public can use (Regulation s. 10). Which water these rules reach: A water supply system is any system providing water for drinking and household use, other than one serving only one single-family home (Act s. 1). Every water supply system needs an operating permit from the health authority (s. 8; Regulation s. 4). A small system serves up to 500 people in a day, and since 2025 one with fewer than 5 homes connected needs no construction permit (Regulation ss. 1, 6 (3) (b.1)). A permit for 1 to 14 connections carries no fee (Schedule C). Water from a lake, creek or spring, or groundwater a drinking water officer thinks is at risk, must be disinfected (Regulation s. 5). A well serving one house isn't a water supply system, so no notice list covers it: its owner tests it. Testing and what's made public: A supplier must have its water tested for total coliforms and E. coli, 4 samples a month for a system serving under 5,000 people, unless the drinking water officer sets another frequency (Act s. 11; Regulation s. 8, Schedule B). It must make public each year's monitoring results within 6 months of the year's end (Act s. 15; Regulation s. 11), and give its users a summary of its emergency response plan (Regulation s. 13 (4)). Orders: Where a drinking water officer believes there is a drinking water health hazard, or a significant risk of one, the officer can order the person responsible to investigate, fix the cause, change the works or give public notice (Act s. 25 (1), (3)). For a breach of the Act the officer can order part or all of a system closed, or bar the supplier from providing water until it complies (s. 26 (3) (d), (g)). The cost of work done in default can be recovered from a property owner like property taxes (s. 27 (4)). Anyone who thinks their drinking water is threatened may ask the drinking water officer in writing to investigate (s. 29). Where the notices are listed: The Province keeps no list of its own; it links each health authority's: Interior Health's advisory map, Fraser Health's, Island Health's public notices, Northern Health's, Vancouver Coastal Health's and the First Nations Health Authority's (links below). On First Nations reserve land, the FNHA advises the community on when an advisory is warranted, and Chief and Council put it in place; the FNHA's monthly summary says it isn't meant for public health messaging, and points members to Chief and Council or their FNHA environmental health officer. None of these lists is open data we may reuse, which is why a report doesn't show them. How common they are: On March 31, 2024 there were 862 drinking water advisories in BC, on 17% of the province's 5,209 water systems. Boil water notices were 80% of them. Interior Health had 604, on 30% of its systems (the Provincial Health Officer's report for 2023/24). A notice that lasts: The Province says a system can stay on a boil water notice for a long time where its treatment or pipes are the concern, as fixing them is costly and slow to plan. Small water systems carried 97% of the advisories on March 31, 2024, 98% of those in place five to ten years, and 99% of those in place a decade or more (the PHO's report). An operating permit can't be transferred (Regulation s. 7.2), so a buyer who takes over a small system needs a permit of their own (our reading). What it means for a buyer: A long notice usually means the system needs work its users will pay for, through rates, levies or taxes (our reading). Ask the supplier and the health authority whether a notice is in effect or has been, for how long, why, and what is planned to lift it; ask for the system's latest yearly monitoring report. On a private well, test the water before you buy.

Is there a boil water notice on this BC property's water?

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Before you buy: who to ask