Actual Article

CHILLIWACK RESIDENTS ORDERED TO BOIL WATER

April 24/98
The Globe and Mail
ROSS HOWARD
A12

VANCOUVER -- According to this story, the city of Chilliwack, B.C., won an award last year for the cleanliness of its water. This week, 35,000 residents of the Fraser Valley municipality were ordered to boil their tap water because of ten cases cryptosporidiosis among residents of Chilliwack since Wednesday.

Health officials were cited as saying that the final number of confirmed infections may be ten times higher. George Rice, a senior health officer with the Fraser Valley Health Region, was quoted as saying the infection caused by the tiny parasite "is usually mild" and involves diarrhea, stomach cramps and vomiting over several days.

The story adds that public health warnings have prompted dozens of calls from other residents reporting the same symptoms, but there have been no reports of more serious illness or harm to people already suffering from illnesses or weakened immune systems.

The town system is usually fed by deep underground wells with occasional supplements from mountain streams. City engineer Andrew Henry was cited as saying it is suspected that feces from an infected animal entered the city system from a stream which was being used to supplement the city reservoirs last week.

The suspect stream source has been shut off and the deep-well water is being used to flush the entire city's piping system.

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