Residents in some parts of Sechelt were without water Tuesday morning after an unexpected shutdown of the Chapman Creek water treatment plant's automated system.
Due to a failure of the plant's supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, which normally notifies water technicians whenever there's a problem at the plant, the situation wasn't discovered until shortly after 6 a.m., when a Nickerson Road resident called the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) complaining of low water pressure.
The shutdown, which occurred some time between 4:30 p.m. on Mon-day and 6 a.m. on Tuesday, was related to the system itself, not the quality of raw water entering the plant, said SCRD communications co-ordinator Kathleen Elliot. High-level upgrades to the system began in 2006 and are slated to be completed by the end of this year, she said. "Whatever went wrong wasn't caused by any external factors, as far as we know," said Elliot.
Because a SCADA shutdown automatically cuts off the treatment system, the reservoir was not being replenished, which resulted in water shortages to the regional district's water zone two, which includes upper Selma Park and Reeves Road, Mason Road and Cascade Green in West Sechelt. While some residents dealt with low water pressure, others were completely out of water. SCADA was back up and running early on Tuesday, and all water was treated twice as an added safety backup. Water technicians double-checked the system at regular intervals after working hours on Tuesday night and Wed-nesday morning."Every four hours, a technician went out to make sure the reservoir was full," said Elliot.
SCADA system specialists met with SCRD water technicians on Wednesday morning, but it was unknown at Coast Reporter's press deadline what had caused the problem with the system.
