The District would like to thank the residents and businesses of Bracebridge for their support and patience.
Restaurants were not able to offer take-our during the boil water advisory.
Last week was frustrating, challenging, uncertain and unexpected – all compounded by the challenges that residents and businesses are already facing due to COVID-19 restrictions. Even through these challenges, we experienced an incredible outpouring of support by our entire Muskoka community, who rallied together to face the challenges associated with this emergency. Many members of our community needed help – and many individuals, families and businesses answered the call including Home Hardware and The Manor in Gravenhurst.
The District would also want to thank their staff and partners at the Town of Bracebridge, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and Fowlers Construction who worked tirelessly to expedite repairs, testing, and system flushing to restore this essential service as quickly as possible.
A special thank you to Lakeland Networks and our local media for their support in sharing updates to our customers and the community.
What the District is Doing to Protect The Water System
The District of Muskoka invests in our infrastructure to replace old water pipes and upgrade infrastructure, but unfortunately it is still common for water mains to break. The District is committed to providing reliable safe drinking water and will be completing a third-party review of the emergency in the coming weeks. Any opportunities and recommendations that are identified through the third-party review process will be given due consideration and implemented where appropriate.
Steps have already been put in place to prevent future incidents and also to improve how we communicate with the community.
These steps include:
- Internal, external and Emergency Control Group debriefings to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in the response to this emergency
- Investigation into why the water main failed and research into availability of better technology to locate water main breaks
- Engineering review of the water distribution system
- Review and update of emergency communication protocols to enhance notification to residents and investment in communication tools (i.e. Integrated Voice Response)
Sorry doesn’t cut it.
Is the District reimbursing those who lost money due to the failure of their system for days?Rocks were mistakenly put on top of the pipe when it was backfilled originally.
John Klinck and Graydon Smith were particularly upset at the EPW meeting.
Go to 36:00 here.http://video.isilive.ca/muskoka/PW-1-2021%20-%202021-01-20.mp4.html
Sorry doesn’t cut it.
Is the District reimbursing those who lost money due to the failure of their system for days?
People had to melt snow just to flush their toilet.
It turns out rocks were mistakenly put on top of the pipe.
John Klinck and Graydon Smith were particularly upset at the Engineering and Public Works meeting Jan 21.
To get an idea of the mistakes made and how likely it is to happen again watch the meeting webcast online.
Search “Webcasts – District of Muskoka.” Click on Engineering and Public Works then PW-1-2021 and go to to 36:00.