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The City of Charlottetown says crews have confirmed that water systems are now running normally after maintenance allowed excess sediment into the system, resulting in water appearing brown.

In a news release Thursday afternoon, the city said all test results have confirmed the “water is clear and free of bacteria.”

The city said the issue was caused by maintenance work on the water system on Feb. 10 that allowed excess sediment into the system, resulting in water appearing brown Wednesday morning and into Thursday.

The issue prompted the P.E.I. Public School Branch to email parents and guardians of students on Wednesday to make them aware that tap water would not be used for drinking. 

Some schools also sent emails advising parents to send their children to school with a water bottle on Thursday as the PSB provided large jugs of water that students could use.

Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown told CBC News on Thursday that the city has more than 300 kilometres of water lines, so it takes time to get them clean. He said the process of flushing the system involves crews opening each of the city’s 1,361 fire hydrants, which staff did Wednesday.

Brown noted that the water posed no danger to city residents.

“But you know what, when it’s discoloured, I’m not going to drink it. And I don’t think anyone was going to take that chance,” he said.

“We wanted to make sure that safeguards were in place and that when we gave the green light that the water was good to go, it was given a green light with a lot of confidence.”

Residents with any concerns are asked to contact the city’s water and sewer utility at 902-629-4014 during regular business hours and 902-626-2100 outside of those hours.

Discoloured water causes trouble at the taps for Charlottetown residents, businesses

A lot of people in Charlottetown woke up to yellowish- brown water Wednesday morning. The city says sediment got into the pipes during maintenance, and told people not to drink it if it wasn’t clear. CBC’s Sheehan Desjardins has more.