Almost 10,000 people in Abbotsford, B.C., on boil water advisory

Nearly 10,000 people in Abbotsford, B.C., have been told to boil their water after E. coli bacteria was detected in a private provider's water system on Thursday.

The Clearbrook Waterworks District — which serves a two-square-kilometre area in west Abbotsford, according to its website — issued the boil water advisory on Friday.

In the advisory, Clearbrook says E. coli is of particular concern to infants, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

It is asking its customers to only consume their water after it has been brought to a rolling boil for at least one minute, following which it can be cooled and used for cooking or drinking purposes. The utility says customers can also use bottled water.

"Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, washing ready-to-eat foods, and washing dishes," the advisory reads.

The advisory says customers can also treat their water with iodine or chlorine tablets, as per manufacturer instructions. Common household water filters like Brita will not filter out E. coli, the company says.

Clearbrook says its water distribution system was breached at the reservoir. It is in talks with the Fraser Health authority over the contamination.

"We are currently in the process of disinfecting the reservoir and continuing enhanced monitoring," Clearbrook says.

"Additionally, we are going to flush chlorinated water throughout the system and this may cause taste, [odour] and [esthetic] concerns. Boiling your water will resolve these issues."

Clearbrook did not provide a timeline for when they expect the boil water advisory to be ended, but said they hope to resolve the issue quickly.

A spokesperson for Fraser Health said it advised Clearbrook to issue the boil water notice as a "public health precautionary measure."

"We want to reassure community members that the boil water advisory was issued out of an abundance of caution," the spokesperson said in a statement. "No illnesses or hospitalizations have been reported related to this advisory."

The spokesperson added that the Abbotsford Urgent and Primary Care Centre, which is located within the Clearbrook area, is functioning as normal and is using bottled water for consumption purposes.

E. coli can cause nausea

In 2000, an E. coli contamination in Walkerton, Ont.'s water supply killed seven people and made 2,300 people sick.

Health Canada says people who are infected with E. coli can have a wide range of symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, headaches and mild fever.

"Symptoms appear within one to 10 days after exposure to E. coli bacteria. Most symptoms end within five to 10 days," Health Canada says.

Officials say that some people may get seriously ill and need to be hospitalized, and that a serious infection could lead to permanent effects, like kidney failure.

A one-minute rolling boil for contaminated water is the widely accepted standard and is recommended by Health Canada and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States.

A minute will even kill the hardier micro-organisms that might be present when E. coli is found, according to authorities.