Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Willie Sellars is looking forward to having a shower now that the water is turned back on in his community for the first time since Sunday.
“If you can believe it, an air release popped a valve open in one of the manholes located near the Pioneer Log Homes site access road,” Sellars told the Tribune Wednesday afternoon of the cause for the leak in the water system. “The crew, switched the valve back off, isolated the line to determine that it was the actual problem, and the community is going to have water again.”
Community members had been conserving water since Sunday and Sellars said he had been washing up with bowls of cold water in the morning.
“I didn’t want to push our luck,” he said.
Read more: Water leak leaves Williams Lake Indian Band community without water since Sunday
Not having water was a massive inconvenience, he added, but said but one of the positives the community is pulling out of the experience is how the crew got a crash course on dealing with the water system and finding the root of the problem.
Thankful for the support from the City of Williams Lake and Cariboo Regional District, Sellars also credited WLIB staff and the many volunteers who stepped up to the plate to help distribute bottled water and even try to help determine where the leak was in the water system.
“It showed what a strong community we have,” Sellars added.
“It’s how you respond to these things and how you move forward. If it were to happen again, we’ve now purchased equipment, and will be able to respond a lot quicker and our staff will know exactly what to do.”
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