The Town of Atikokan is under a boil water advisory after a waterline was damaged when a culvert failed.

The culvert, which was due to be replaced this year, suffered a catastrophic failure Tuesday afternoon on Mercury Avenue according to Mayor Rob Ferguson, which unfortunately affected the town’s water supply.

“So the culvert washed away and took a 12 inch waterline with it, which caused our clearwell to drop drastically.”

Ferguson says the water line was quickly isolated and water service was only offline for a couple of hours before being restored.

However the safety of the water cannot be guaranteed at this time, and samples are being gathered and sent for analysis.

Residents are asked to bring their water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before consuming it.

A gas line was also damaged in the incident, fortunately safety switches engaged shutting off the leak, Enbridge Gas has been notified and is working to address the issue.

Had the culvert not collapsed the closure to replace it would have taken around a month to complete.

“I haven’t spoken with our public works person to see if we can expedite the contractor to come to site to get started or what the timeline is.”

That project was a big ticket item for Atikokan and was expected to cost just over $2 million for the community.