HARRIETVILLE residents are being told to boil their drinking water as the region's continuing fires have tainted the water supply.
North East Water has issued a Boil Water Advisory stating the quality of raw water has been compromised by sediment pushed into the Upper Ovens River Catchment by fire-fighting practices.The authority's executive operations manager John Day said the normal treatment processes in Harrietville wasn’t designed to deal with such dirty water.
"As a precaution, we are urging people to bring water to a rolling boil if they intend to use it for drinking, food preparation, ice making or teeth cleaning," Mr Day said in a statement.
"This applies especially to those most susceptible to risk, such as people with lowered immunity, infants and the elderly.
"We've chosen the boil water advisory over the option of water carting and restrictions because further hot weather is forecast this week, allowing more flexibility for customers.
"North East Water will be closely monitoring the situation over the coming weeks, and will consider restrictions if water quality deteriorates further through heavy rainfall in the catchment."
