The government of Newfoundland and Labrador said Friday it will pay most of the expenses to fix a broken water pump in a small town in central Newfoundland after residents' fears of overflowing raw sewage grew throughout the week.

People in Benton, who have been on and off boil water orders for years for chlorination problems, recently became fearful of contaminants in their water supply after a sewage lagoon began to overflow this summer, causing sewage to run through a local salmon river.

On Friday, the MHA for the area, Kevin O'Brien, told CBC News the province has decided to pay 90 per cent of an $8,000 bill to fix a broken pump, which will stop the overflow of sewage into the river.

"That pump is being repaired as we speak, so we hope to get it back into service in the next week, 10 days, two weeks," O'Brien said.

"It will stop the best part of it, I'd say, so I don't know about the water supply but it will stop the best part of it from going out into Soulis River anyway," Benton resident Jim Russell said. "If they're going to pay most of it, I'd say that's the best deal we're going to get."

Residents received mixed messages

The province's move comes after confusion in the town over the quality of the water, as residents were told this week by town officials that test results had shown low levels of E. coli bacteria in the water. Representatives from the town told residents they shouldn't bathe or wash dishes with the town's water, leaving people frustrated and scared.

"If I didn't have my home here I know what I'd do — I'd move.... I wouldn't be here drinking sewage," resident Kathleen Barrett told CBC News Thursday.

However, the provincial Department of Government Services had different advice for residents, saying if they wanted to drink the water, it should be boiled for one minute first, and that it was still safe as it is for bathing and washing dishes.

Provincial officials believe the E. coli in the water system is from animal waste and has nothing to do with the town's overflowing sewage system.

Meanwhile, some Benton residents told CBC News that fixing the pump doesn't address the larger problem of the overflowing lagoon, which they feel is the source of the E. coli.