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Residents of Port Renfrew on southwest Vancouver Island have been asked to urgently conserve water on Thursday night as crews repair a water main leak.
There were just over 230 residents in Port Renfrew as of the 2021 census, with the unincorporated community located around 80 kilometres west of downtown Victoria, B.C.
The Capital Regional District (CRD) said just past 7:10 p.m. PT on Thursday that crews had shut off a damaged section of the water system as they worked to repair the water main.
In the interim, the district said that Port Renfrew was being served by reservoir water only.
“Reservoir levels are dropping and could become critically low as early as [Friday] morning,” the regional district said.
Port Renfrew residents have been asked to only use water for essential purposes — which includes drinking, cooking and sanitation.
They have been asked to not water their lawns or wash vehicles, limit showers and avoid laundry and dishwashing if possible.
The B.C. Drought Information Portal says that, as of Thursday, Port Renfrew and southwest Vancouver Island sits at drought level 4 out of 5.
Al Wickheim, the regional director for the Juan de Fuca electoral area that covers Port Renfrew, said the leak was discovered by the person in charge of the water system.
He said that on Thursday morning, the worker was driving along West Coast Road heading into Port Renfrew when he saw water along the side of the road, which was determined to be from the leaky pipe.
“If the leak continues and they do end up running the tanks dry, then they’ll have to issue a boil water advisory, but they’re hoping that they can avoid that,” he said on Thursday night.
Wickheim said crews would work overnight to fix the leak, and they hoped to finish repairs by Friday morning.