Turn on the taps,

                                   water's good again

Regional health and water officials declared tap water safe to drink again Monday, "Medical health officers believe the water is now safe for people to drink," said Vancouver-Coastal medical health officer Dr. Patricia Daly.

"So we're advising all our hospitals, our long-term care facilities, our daycares and schools that they no longer need to serve bottled water," Daly said, "and the public can resume drinking water from the taps."

 Daly said medical health officers believe the water is safe. More than 1,000 tests of water samples indicated none of the harmful organisms that occur naturally in the watersheds have reached the public. However, public health officials will keep monitoring health care statistics in case there is an increase in gastrointestinal illnesses.

Residents who haven't been using their taps at all may want to run them for a few minutes to flush out any murky water sitting in the pipes.

"We're telling people that if they're turning on a tap that hasn't been in use for the last 24 hours, they should run it for  3 Minutes ," Daly said.