Boil water advisory bad for businesses
Contamination of Halifax water supply resulting in closed doors, service reductions
The boil water advisory issued by Halifax Water early Tuesday morning made life difficult for many Halifax businesses.
Glitter Bean Cafe, a Halifax coffee shop, had to close for the day due to the boil water advisory.
“It’s a complete loss of a day’s sales,” said Glitter Bean Cafe employee Shivaughn Perry. “Things like this really impact small businesses.”
Perry says Glitter Bean Cafe will feel the burden of missing out on a day’s worth of customers. “Our sales would be a significant amount. We’d be looking at, mid-week, on a busy day, at least a couple thousand dollars.”
The advisory will be in effect until further notice, Halifax Water said.
Halifax Water advises those affected to boil water before using it to cook food, wash vegetables, or “any other activity requiring human consumption.”
The advisory targets a wide swath of the Halifax Regional Municipality including Lower Sackville, Bedford, Fairview and Clayton Park and all of peninsular Halifax. In addition to downtown businesses, the contaminated water affects Halifax Shopping Centre and the Bayers Lake industrial park.
At businesses that elected to close like Glitter Bean Cafe, “people are losing wages,” said Perry.
Across Halifax, businesses are handling the advisory in different ways. Starbucks on Spring Garden Road is closed for the day. Across the street at Tim Horton’s, a limited menu is being offered.
The advisory is a result of a planned power outage at the J.D. Kline (Pockwock) Lake Water Treatment Facility in Upper Hammonds Plains.
During the power outage, “water continued to be treated but lacked chlorine disinfection for approximately 30 minutes” according to Halifax Water’s press release. “This interruption has allowed a limited amount of unchlorinated water to enter the system.”
Halifax Water is providing a Boil Water Advisory Fact Sheet, giving direction to those affected.
About the author
Connor Parent
Connor Parent is an aspiring journalist in his fourth year at the University of King’s College.
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