'Do not swallow any unboiled water,' McMaster tells students in downtown residence
CBC
McMaster University is telling students who live at its new downtown residence they should boil their water before drinking it and to add bleach when cleaning their dishes.
The guidelines were part of a Saturday morning email to students and tenants in 10 Bay St. S., obtained by CBC Hamilton.
Late last week students shared their stories about the poor conditions in the $100 million, 30-storey building and their demands of McMaster to improve them. While they knew the building was under construction when they moved in, students said the conditions are far worse than the school had described.
Among the problems was white, murky water which tested positive for total coliforms bacteria.
A web page from Public Health Ontario states water with total coliforms "may be unsafe to drink" because while not likely to cause illness, it indicates "your water supply may have been contaminated by more harmful microorganisms or may be a sign of bacterial regrowth."
McMaster previously said it shares students' frustrations and cares about them. It also said it was supplying bottled drinking water on all floors, flushed the water-supply system and implemented a schedule to do so regularly.
McMaster spokesperson Wade Hemsworth confirmed the Saturday morning email to tenants and said the school's guidance is the same as what it told students on Nov. 30 in another email.
Elliot Goodell Ugalde, co-chair of the CUPE 3906 Tenant Working Solidarity Group and a grad student who lives in the building, said the earlier Nov. 30 email landed in many people's junk mail folders, so not everyone read it.
On Saturday morning, McMaster sent an update to tenants via email saying external water consultants recommended using chlorine to sanitize the building's water system.
The email said that process would occur on Tuesday.
"We will expand our water sampling after this chlorination flush to test every floor, with results expected by the end of next week," the email said.
WATCH: Tap water in McMaster residence is white and murky
The email also listed guidelines for using water from the taps and showers.
It said people should use an alternate water supply or have the tap water reach a rolling boil for at least a minute if they want to use it for drinking, cooking, washing food or brushing their teeth.