Hanover boil water advisory expected to last until at least Friday

It’s bottled and boiled water at Ashanti Coffee in Hanover today, following an unexpected town-wide boil water advisory.

“We've got a good supply of distilled water and that's what we're using in our coffee for our drip coffee,” said Natalie Telford, Ashanti Coffee owner.

“We have an espresso machine, which is really, really hot, so we don't have to worry about that at all. And just changing the way we're washing our hands and doing our dishes and keeping on top of that.”

Telford said most people she knows are doing their best to “roll with it” after the town issued a precautionary boil water advisory Wednesday at 6 p.m., after samples from the town water supply exceeded ministry drinking water standards in an unidentified category.

Distilled water ready to be used at Ashanti Coffee following a precautionary boil water advisory for all town water users in Hanover, Ont. on Nov. 7, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“This is in response to us receiving an adverse test result from our accredited lab,” said Sherri Walden, the Town of Hanover’s chief administrative officer.

“It is a precautionary measure, out of an abundance of caution to our residents and consumers on our water supply system, to boil their water for one minute or use an alternate water source, such as bottled water.”

As you can imagine, that’s created a run on bottled water at Hanover’s grocery stores. As a result of the boil water advisory, Hanover’s five schools taped off water fountains so kids couldn’t use them, and the Hanover District Hospital postponed all non-emergency surgical procedures.

“The water supply in the stores out here is dwindling a little bit,” said Telford.

“And, yeah, they've been phone calls to make sure if we're open and we're able to, because we're smaller, we can just keep on top of it.”

Water advisories aren’t totally uncommon in municipalities, but they usually follow a watermain break, or something similar. That’s not what’s caused the adverse result this time, although the town would not specify what did cause the adverse result.

Sign on door of Tim Horton’s following precautionary boil water advisory for all town water users in Hanover, Ont on Nov. 7, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

Town-wide boil water advisories are certainly less common. Walden said she can’t remember one in her more than 30 years working in Hanover.

She said the town has sent a new sample to their testing lab and hope to have those results as early as tomorrow, but until then, the precautionary boil water advisory remains in effect.

“Our water systems are working and therefore we've been notified accordingly and therefore are able to take that prompt action and implement steps to provide that precautionary notice,” said Walden.

While the advisory did raise some alarm bells for some residents, especially with the community’s 15-minute proximity to Walkerton, most appear to be doing their best to “roll with it”, and hope it won’t last too much longer.

“I get bottled water from Culligan’s, the big jugs. So, I'm okay there and that's what I drink,” said Monica Kort, a Hanover resident.

“Not too worried because if it was real bad, they would tell us not to boil it at all. Just buy the bottles and go that way for a while,” suggested Hanover resident, Jim Hertzberger.

While they are monitoring for it, officials with the Hanover District Hospital said they’ve not seen any unusual increase in patients presenting to the Emergency Department since the precautionary boil water advisory went into effect.

To keep up to date on Hanover’s water situation, you can follow the Town of Hanover homepage. For more information about boil water advisories, you can click the Grey Bruce Public Health Homepage.