Largest boil-water advisory in Montreal's history

As of 10 pm Thursday night, Montreal’s longest boil-water advisory was finally lifted, and citizens were told the water was safe to drink.

Mayor Michael Applebaum gave the all clear in a press conference Thursday night, roughly 36 hours after the alert was issued late Wednesday morning.

Test results showed no bacterial contamination.

According to CTV, Applebaum said investigations into what caused the city-wide water ban are still on going, but was likely due to the Atwater treatment plant being drained lower than it should have during maintenance.

CBC reports that opposition municipal party leaders are saying the warning system took too long to reach the 1.3 million Montrealers affected.

The decision to expand the alert from the Sud-Ouest borough was made at 9 am Wednesday, but took an hour or more to reach the media and spread across the city.

This was Canada’s second largest boil-water advisory, but not the country’s longest.

According to Global, as of 2011, the average duration of an advisory in a First Nations community was over two years, and has increased over the past decade because of unresolved issues.

Flickr Photo by: Allie Holzman

STORY WRITTEN BY: CATLIN SPENCER