Clearwater RCMP are investigating after the district's water reservoir was fully drained suddenly on Sunday, Oct. 6.
"We believe the power to the SCADA system may have been intentionally turned off," noted a news release from the District of Clearwater. "We urge anyone with information about this incident to contact the Clearwater RCMP."
The district noted it is treating the incident as a serious matter and has filed a report with the authorities due to the significant impact on the community.
"We believe the power to the SCADA system may have been intentionally turned off."
Residents were prepared for a planned power outage on Sunday because BC Hydro was doing some work in the area.
District staff informed the community to be prepared and store some water before the power outage which was scheduled for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Within an hour of the power being turned off the reservoir fully drained, but the computer-based system that monitors the water system was showing it was holding at 80 per cent.
"On Saturday evening, the power to a portion of the district’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system was unexpectedly turned off, resulting in the unintended draining of the reservoir," stated the district release. "Consequently, the reservoir was empty when the planned power outage began at 7 a.m. on Sunday."
Due to this incident, the district has implemented a boil water notice as a precautionary measure. It will remain in effect until Interior Health provides clearance to lift it.
District of Clearwater mayor Merlin Blackwell spoke with Black Press on Monday (Oct. 7) saying, “What happened didn’t add up. District staff had been investigating all day and after all the systems were checked this was discovered. Now that we’ve been able to turn that back on we are retrieving all the data from the system to find out more accurate timelines and just exactly how this happened as far as the loss of water and to see what we can do to have extra alerts or alarms in the event of something like this happening again either naturally or via weather events. The best thing for us to do now is to secure it and add some sort of alarm to it.”
Anyone with information about the reservoir draining incident is encouraged to contact the Clearwater RCMP.
To prevent similar occurrences in the future, the district stated it is implementing additional security measures around the community infrastructure.
"We appreciate the community’s patience and cooperation during this time. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.For more information or concerns, please contact the District of Clearwater office."
With files from the District of Clearwater
