Keeping Your Well Water Safe During and After a Power Outage

PPH: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, May 27, 2022, Peterborough

Keeping Your Well Water Safe During and After a Power Outage

Residents Urged to Take Precautions to Avoid Waterborne Illnesses

Peterborough Public Health recognizes that many residents are still without power and many are starting to get power again. For those who get their water from a well, please be mindful of well and septic safety as your power is coming back on. Power outages can affect treatment units for both water and sewage systems as well as any pumps associated with those systems. If you don't have power continue to use bottled water or boil water for drinking, cooking, brushing your teeth and any other activities that involve the direct consumption of water. When the power is restored, verify that any filters and treatment devices have resumed normal operation and flush your plumbing system to remove any untreated water by running the water for several minutes through all plumbing fixtures. As a precaution, collect a water sample as soon as possible once your power is back on.

Water samples can be dropped off at the following locations:

Year Round:

• Public Health Ontario Laboratory at 99 Hospital Drive, Peterborough weekdays between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
• Peterborough Public Health, 185 King Street, Peterborough. Between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon on Fridays.
• Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township Office at 1 Ottawa St., Havelock. Monday through Thursday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Seasonally (April to November):

• Municipality of Trent Lakes Administration Office, 760 County Road 36, Trent Lakes. Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8:30am and 10:00am.
• Township of North Kawartha, 280 Burleigh Street, Apsley. Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.

If you are on a septic system, limit the amount of wastewater that you are generating. If your sewage cannot be pumped to the leaching bed, your tank may fill up and backup into the house or discharge to the ground. In the event you have a sewage backup into your home or you observe breakout of sewage onto your property, call a sewage hauler and immediately pump your septic tank.

For further public health and safety updates, please visit www.peterboroughpublichealth.ca and www.ptbocounty.ca.

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For further information, please contact:
Brittany Cadence,
Communications Manager
Peterborough Public Health
705-743-1000, ext. 391