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Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink

    As of today, Kemptville, Ontario can probably be described by a quote from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

    Water, water, every where,
    Nor any drop to drink

    We just got notice this evening of two water related issues that are (or may be) affecting our little town:

    The first is a boil water advisory (PDF link) for the town of Kemptville. I guess they had a test come back with an E. Coli count higher than the provincial limit on one of the wells that feeds the town. Therefore, we get to boil our water for the weekend and until further notice. Fantastic.

    The second is for a high water warning (PDF link) for Kemptville Creek in the town of Kemptville. Wonderful. All of this warm weather they are predicting for us now is going to melt the huge amounts of snow we have and that means one thing – potential flooding.

    Living in a small town has some great advantages when stuff like this happens. We’ve had three people come by to check and see if we heard about the boil advisory. That’s in addition to the person who had to drop off the official notice at our house (hand delivered and taped to the door for anyone who isn’t home at the time).

    Of course, now is when we wonder about our house which is a stone’s throw away from the Kemptville Creek. We’re not actually water front but there’s not much between us and the water and we are supposedly above the 100 year flood plain level. Here’s hoping that this is still the case! We’ve been told lots of stories by our neighbours about previous years and how high the water has been. From what we’ve been told, we should be “safe”. I guess it helps that we are downstream of one of the bridges in town so if it jams, the water should stay upstream of us. That’s all fine and dandy until the water gets high enough to come over the road.

    I wonder if the house has a wedge shaped bottom… maybe we’ll just float away with all the animals like Noah did…

    Updated: Well, the good news is the boil water advisory has now been lifted. Now we just get to see how much water we’re going to get in the Kemptville Creek with the big thaw that is happening.

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