The District of Muskoka has issued an apology for the water issues in Bracebridge.
It says the water main break failure that occurred in the late evening of Saturday, January 9th in the town was exceptionally large in scope and scale.
The District offers its sincere apology for the significant impacts and inconveniences that were experienced by the entire Bracebridge community during the water service disruption and the Boil Water Advisory that resulted.
It would also like to thank the residents and businesses of Bracebridge for their support and patience.
The District of Muskoka invests in our infrastructure to replace old water pipes and upgrade infrastructure, but unfortunately it is still common for water mains to break. The District is committed to providing reliable safe drinking water and will be completing a third-party review of the emergency in the coming weeks. Any opportunities and recommendations that are identified through the third-party review process will be given due consideration and implemented where appropriate.
While we await more information from the third-party review, steps have already been put in place to prevent future incidents and also to improve how we communicate with the community.
These steps include:
- Internal, external and Emergency Control Group debriefings to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in the response to this emergency
- Investigation into why the water main failed and research into availability of better technology to locate water main breaks
- Engineering review of the water distribution system
- Review and update of emergency communication protocols to enhance notification to residents and investment in communication tools (i.e. Integrated Voice Response)
We understand our community has questions about what happened, we’re committed to keeping you updated as more information and investigation results are available.
Community Update: Thank you to community and partners during Bracebridge water emergency and next steps being taken: https://t.co/LCidVH1GdN pic.twitter.com/7Nm1FAC7ak
— District of Muskoka (@DistrictMuskoka) January 22, 2021