Vancouver-area residents braced for more rain on Monday as a boil-water advisory remained in effect, prompting some people to start hoarding bottled water.

Tap water should be boiled and cooled, or bottled water should be used, before brushing teeth in many B.C. areas.
(CBC)

The forecast called for 10 to 15 millimetres during the day and another 10 to 15 mm in the evening.

The advisory is still in effect for Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore, affecting about one million people.

Thousands of residents in Port Alberni, Parksville and Chemainus on Vancouver Island are also living with boil-water advisories.

Affected residents are advised to use bottled water or boil tap water for a full minute before drinking, brushing teeth or washing food. Water should be boiled and allowed to cool before being put in another container or refrigerated.

Stores ran dry

Some stores on the Lower Mainland have replenished their bottled-water stocks after running out late last week.

Store managers told CBC News on Monday that there was a run on bottled water after the advisory was issued.

John Vedder, a customer at a big-box store, said he took some bottled water out of another person's grocery cart because a senior citizen in the store was desperate for some and just wanted a few bottles.

"People are greedy. I don't understand," Vedder said.

Some people in B.C. are hoarding bottled water because of questionable tap water.
(CBC)

The Greater Vancouver Regional District issued the boil-water advisory on Thursday after a powerful storm blew through the Lower Mainland last week, leaving tap water brown and cloudy. High levels of silt had ended up in two reservoirs that supply the region.

The GVRD said it issued the advisory out of concern that the brown, cloudy tap water could lead to gastrointestinal illness.

On Friday, the advisory was lifted for about half the residents of the Lower Mainland, but remained in place for Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore.

Paul Archibald, spokesman for the GVRD, said on Sunday there were high turbidity levels in the Capilano and Seymour watersheds.

"We're certainly doing everything we can do to bring the cleaner Coquitlam water into the system. We've pretty much reached the end of our ability we think.

"We're still exploring what we can do to change the operation, but for now the boil-water advisory exists for people in Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore."

Archibald said the advisory will likely not be lifted until late this week.

Discolouration from suspended silt raised concerns about gastrointestinal illnesses, but there have been no reports of anyone getting sick from drinking the water.