Boil water advisory in effect for Saint Andrews causes chaos for some businesses

When Lauren Naishheard the town of SaintAndrews had issued a boil water advisory Monday morning, her first instinct was to dump every ounce of coffee she'd already made.

"It brings a little unnecessary chaos to my life on a busy Monday morning," she said.

Naishis the owner of Honeybeanscaf on Water Street in the southwestern New Brunswick resort town. She said it's the second time she's had to deal with a boil order since she bought the businessin 2018.

The town sent out the advisory a little before 10:30 a.m.

For Naish,whose clientele consists mainly of early morning coffee-lovers, getting the news after dozens of water-based drinks had already been served was less than ideal.

"We had just gotten through the busiest part of our morning when this all happened, so it was kind of like, 'Oh no,'" she said.

"We didn't know about it this morning first thing, so I would have had more time to prepare if I had found out earlier."

While coffee machines keep water at high temperatures, most don't reach a boiling point, Naish said. Her staff will need to boil water and use the pour-over coffee method, which is significantly more time-consuming.

Automated system failed

Chris Spear, the town manager, said a boil orderas wide-reaching as this one is rare for the community.

"Wecertainly understand how, during the summer peak season,horrifically inconvenient this is," he said.

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Heres how businesses in Saint Andrews are impacted by boil water advisory

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Mayor Brad Henderson says a malfunction caused the need for a boil water advisory, which affects the bottom line of local businesses.

The town regularly tests chlorine levels in the water in-house, he said, and sends samples to labs weekly.

During the weekends, there is no staff on site to verify the water quality sosensors monitor the levels, and chlorine is added to the water automatically asneeded.

That system failed during the weekend, Spear said,leaving chlorine levels lower than provincial regulation standards.

Brad Henderson, mayor of Saint Andrews, said the town will need to submit several tests to a lab, to show that chlorine levels are back to normal, before the order can be lifted.

"I'm anticipating probably about 48 hours," he said.

Henderson acknowledged the burden this issue can have on local businesses as they begin to wrap up a busy summer season.

"It adds to the overhead of the operation, so it's not ideal," he said. "It's a lot for a business. From a restaurant standpoint, there's already a lot to do in the summer in Saint Andrews, and everybody's trying to work with short staff."

"I'm sure it's an inconvenience to say the least but they're very resourceful people."

Boil 1 minute

Spear saidthe town will try to determine exactly what went wrong with the automated system once the issue is resolved for citizens.

"We will be doing a debrief once we get through it to try to reduce the chances of it ever happening again."

According to the advisory, any resident on the town's water system should boil water for at least one minute before consuming it or cooking with it.

The town said it will advise residents as soon as the boil order is lifted.