Yass residents warned not to drink their tap water after
Residents in Yass, north of Canberra, are being warned not to drink their tap water after recent rainfall and flooding caused issues for water treatment. Yass Valley Council has told people in Yass, Murrumbateman, Bowning, and Binalong to use bottled or boiled water for drinking and food preparation, and encouraged parents to give their children sponge baths.
Transcript
00:00 Yass Valley Council sent out a message on Facebook about 10 o'clock last night telling
00:06 residents the tap water isn't safe to drink.
00:09 They've instead been told to use boiled or bottled water.
00:13 The Yass pool has been closed while the changes have also put a strain on local pubs and cafes
00:19 with the issues caused for their drink and food preparation.
00:22 The council says the problem started with a recent deluge of rain.
00:25 It says its 50-year-old water treatment plant couldn't handle that much water and had to
00:30 shut down.
00:31 It's not the first time this has happened.
00:33 There was a similar incident four years ago.
00:36 The council is trying to upgrade the plant and says it has secured funding from the state
00:40 government but was recently rejected by the federal government.
00:43 It will try again to secure money under the National Water Grid Fund in coming months.
00:49 It's likely residents here will have to keep boiling their water for at least the next
00:52 few days with the council hoping for an update in the next 24 hours.
00:57 It says the worst case scenario is the problem won't be fixed for 10 days.
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