Alma frustrated with never-ending boil water order

Alma business owners and town officialsworry the popular fishingvillage will soon be famous for something other thanattracting tourists from around the world.

The village is in its tenth week of boil water order due to high turbidity, or cloudiness and haziness in the water caused by large numbers of individual particles that can't be seen by the naked eye.

That is abig deal for a place that relies heavily on the tourism industry.

But it seems it is tourism that is at the root of the problem.

"We had such aninflux of tourists thelast few years," said Alma Mayor Kirstin Shortt. "This year was another 20 per cent increase."

Alma's population in the 2014 census was 232 andShortt said the village's water system, builtin 2004, was not designed to serve the summer crowds of tourists Alma is now seeing.

"For the last three years we've had issues."

No water for you

Jeff Grandy moved to Alma from Prince Edward Islandin the summer to open Holy Whale Brewingwith his brother.

After buyinga former church to house the brewery, officials advised the brothers theycould not use the village's waterbecause the brewing process would put too much of a strain on the system.

"They brought it to us during our plans," said Grandy. "We thoughtwe'll take the risk."

The Grandy brothers had to buythe house adjacent to the church as temporary lodgingbecause it came with a private well.

"We're trying to get a business off the groundand I know the village really wants new people, but I think it's difficult to say we're open for business, yet, we don't have the water available for you to put that business up," said Grandy.

Shortt recognized tourism is a double-edge sword and does worry about the negative impact on the town's image.

"The minute people see boil water, they immediately think of contamination, and that it could affect their health."

While Shortt hopes the current boil order is lifted in a week's time, there's no clear end in sight for what's at the root of the problem.

"We're trying very hard to put a secondary water source in," said Shortt. "Unless we can get a source of funding, it's going to be a slow process."