Brief boil water advisory for Golden Sheaf Park

File Photo

By Jeremy Appel
Commentator/Courier

Alberta Health Services announced a boil water advisory for Golden Sheaf Park on June 27, which was lifted a day later, despite remaining listed on AHS’s website through the July 1 long weekend.
Sheri Pemmey, gatehouse attendant for Golden Sheaf Park, says the advisory was a “total mistake,” a claim disputed by AHS.
The park tests its water every week and has never failed, she said.
“They wouldn’t lift it after a day if there was a problem with our water,” said Pemmey.
“You have to pass several weeks consistently before they lift it, so right there having it lifted immediately is explaining that there never was an issue.”
The water was tested two days prior to AHS’s advisory, she added.
Due to the Canada Day long weekend, there was a delay in it being rescinded.
“We’ve been getting a lot of phone calls about it,” said Pemmey.
“We’ve been explaining to everybody that it was a clerical error on Alberta Health Services and our water is perfectly fine.”
The advisory remains listed on the AHS website under “inactive.”
Manager of environmental public health for AHS Ken Longmore says the advisory, although brief, was no mistake.
“Of their regular water samples, we had a hit on one of them, so we asked for a re-sample and then that’s when we got the sample back that suggested that they needed to do something with their system,” said Longmore.
“Their suggestion that our records are different than their records (is) incorrect.”
The advisory was brief because the park fixed the issue with its water rather quickly, he added.
“They were only down for two or three days because they were able to rectify that and submit another re-sample that came back satisfactory, so at that point, the boil water order is off,” said Longmore.
A sample result takes 48 hours, regardless of whether there’s a long weekend, which is on reason why the advisory remained on the AHS website after it was lifted.
“The lab doesn’t speed it up for anything. That’s what they need to do to make sure they get the accurate results,” he said.
It also takes time for the order’s removal to appear on the website, but Longmore says the park would have been aware of it prior to its appearing on their website.
“When we upload the rescind order to the web communication page, we’re at the mercy of those guys when they change it. It generally takes them a day or two. It doesn’t come off immediately.”

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