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Today's Big Story

Van City Water Still Not Safe

Perrier supply, cappuccino safety, questioned as boil water advisory enters fifth day.

Richard Warnica 20 Nov 2006TheTyee.ca

Richard Warnica is a senior editor at The Tyee.

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Vancouver residents drank at their own peril again Monday, as the GVRD issued a boil water advisory for the fifth consecutive day.

Writing in Monday’s Globe, Petti Fong quoted an official with the district saying that while water was less turbid yesterday, weekend rains mean it is not yet safe to drink.

So what happens when residents of Canada’s third largest city go waterless for the weekend? Perrier shortages and cappuccino scares, apparently.

Meanwhile, for those who can't afford water at $3 a litre, there's always the Salvation Army. The group is distributing 48,000 bottles of the stuff in the Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver’s blogosphere too, is wet with water talk. 

Chris Lyon who works in Seattle, never thought he’d see this situation in his native Canada. But the Microsoft employee didn’t let it ruin his trip. “Besides the water situation, Bonnie and I had a great time in Vancouver,” he wrote on his blog. “We even caught the Santa Claus parade (complete with Mounties, cowboys, and extras from Stargate SG-1)”

Derrick Thibeau, however,  wasn’t so lucky.  

“Today I did not boil my water and made two pots of coffee,” he wrote Sunday on his blog. “That was 3 hours ago. Remember Chernobyl?  Consisting of an explosion and radioactive contamination of the surrounding area? Well, it feel like there's a carpet bombing of insurgents inside my guts.” [Tyee]

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