-Computer error behind breakage that left much of west Osoyoos without water-

OSOYOOS TIMES-December 17, 2008-

By Karen KnelsenrnOsoyoos Times

A computer error was behind the breakage of the Town of Osoyoos's main water line on the morning of Dec. 15.
A computer mix-up caused a reservoir to overflow at the main water line for the Town, triggering a chain reaction, said Barry Romanko, chief administrative officer for Osoyoos.
Romanko said it was a computer-operated radio communication system that failed around 5:30 a.m. causing too much water to flow into the reservoir.
When the water overflowed onto land on the Osoyoos Golf and Country Club, it broke the Town's main water line due to erosion of the soil around the pipes.
And because of that, Romanko said, two more pipes broke for the same reason.
'It's kind of a series of things, he said.
By the time Osoyoos's public works employees were notified of the problem “ something else that was delayed by the radio communication trouble “ there wasn't much they could do to control it right away, Romanko said.
Several areas in Osoyoos, including the Buena Vista Industrial Park area, the golf course, Osoyoos Secondary School, Casitas del Sol and the Desert Rose subdivision, were still without water at press time and the whole town is on a boil-water notification, he said.
We've invoked our emergency response plan, Romanko said. We went door-to-door in those areas.
Town employees let residents know there is potable water available, mainly at the community centres for the Casitas del Sol and the Desert Rose developments, and that it might be a while before their taps work again.
We're looking at probably around two days or something, he said.
At the high school, classes were still in session on the afternoon of Dec. 15 and School District 53 Superintendent Juleen McElgunn said things are going pretty much normally.
We've made provisions for drinking water, she said.
And school district employees are bringing buckets of water in from outside to pour into toilets that need flushing, McElgunn added.
The method may seem a bit unorthodox, but McElgunn said it's not as outlandish as it sounds.
Schools have done it before; we're certainly not the first.rnHand sanitizers have also been brought in for hand washing.
At the golf course, General Manager Randy LaRoche said things haven't been thrown too much off-kilter there either.
But he said come spring, the Town and the golf course are going to have some things to talk about when it comes to repairing damage done to the landscaping.
The club's been kind of wound up for the season. It would be a good time for something like that to happen, LaRoche said. It hasn't taken away any greens or anything of significance.
But he did say he'd heard from his superintendent, who went out to look at the sight of the breaks, that it's a heck of a mess.
It's going to take a cleanup in the spring, he said. We're not overly worried.
Romanko said he's still not sure what caused the radio failure to begin with.
He said it could have something to do with interrupted or surging power.
He said Osoyoos's reservoirs are still operating at 70 per cent of their capacity, so no one outside the areas directly affected should notice a change in service “ other than the need to boil water for a full minute to make sure it's potable.
He said local grocery stores have also been notified to bring in more bottled water.
The whole process is under control, he said.
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