More than 100 homes in Whiskey Creek are without clean drinking water.
The Regional District of Nanaimo issued a boil water notice for Whiskey Creek residents Monday. The notice was still in effect at press time Wednesday afternoon.
The notice affects 123 connections in the area, roughly half of the community's population.
According to the RDN "all water used for domestic purposes (drinking, cooking etc.) should be boiled before consumption."
The notice said the boiling should be at a rolling boil and for a minimum of two minutes.
RDN project engineer for water utility services Gerald St. Pierre explains "we (the RDN) have a surface water source out in Whiskey Creek and when it first starts to rain we get a lot of turbidity ... to the point where it gets too high so we have to shut it down."
St. Pierre said the water treatment plant is currently shut down and the RDN is trucking water to the reservoir.
"This happens periodically throughout the winter when it rains heavily," he said. "It's a system we are working on with Island Health to find solutions to."
St. Pierre said those solutions may include a different treatment system or a different source.
RDN water services staff say they are "continually monitoring the water supply system and will provide updates as they become available."
Watch for information updates at www.rdn.bc.ca (water services) for more information.