MCIVERS — The little bit of rain that fell Monday evening was nowhere near enough to revive the water supply in McIvers.
The town on the north shore of the Bay of Islands is still in a pattern of shutdowns of its water system because its reservoir has run dry this hot summer.
The system was turned on Monday at 5:30 p.m., but had to be shut again at 7 p.m. — three hours shy of the 10 p.m. shut-off that had been planned to allow the system to fill up overnight.
The water was turned back on early Tuesday morning, but had to be shut off at 10 a.m. when pressure dropped. The plan was to turn it back on at 4 p.m. Tuesday, with the hope of maintaining enough pressure for residential use until 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
"There's no difference — there might be a small bit more water coming down the stream, but there is still no water in the reservoir," said Mayor Warren Blanchard Tuesday afternoon.
Another 10 millimetres of rain was forecast to fall in scattered showers forecasted for Tuesday evening into this evening.
Officials from the Department of Municipal Affairs were in McIvers earlier Tuesday to discuss the situation with town officials. No one has actually checked out the reservoir in the last couple of days, but the government representatives suggested the main line from the reservoir be checked to ensure it is not leaking.
"I doubt very much there is a leak, but I guess you've got to try and check out all the possibilities," said Blanchard.
The town installed a new reservoir last summer, but the main line was not part of that project. The reservoir is located on a brook about 1.5 kilometres into the woods and is fed by a series of smaller streams.
Despite the interrupted water service, Blanchard said residents aren't complaining. A schedule of shutdowns has been posted on the town's Facebook site and throughout the community itself.
"People seem to be pretty understanding that it's been very, very dry and are taking it all in stride," said the mayor.
