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Hull restaurants grapple with multi-day boil water advisory

Businesses in Gatineau's Hull sector are grappling with the realities of a lengthy boil-water advisory as the city upgrades its water treatment plant.

The advisory started Saturday as part of a three-year, $68 million project to modernize the boulevard de Lucerne treatment plant.

Until that work is done, which will be Wednesday at the earliest, some 70,000 Hull residents will have to boil their water used for drinking or cooking for one minute before consuming it.

At the Gainsbourg bistro and craft brewery, co-owner Nicolas Cazelais​ said he decided to remain open during the advisory — with a few precautions.

Posters in the rue Aubry brewery warn patrons the water is unsafe to drink and bottles of disinfectant have been set out on the washroom sinks.

Cazelais told Radio-Canada the advisory has also disrupted his business in another way.

"Although we bring the beer to boil for 45 minutes, we've decided not to make beer with this water," he said in a French-language interview.

Radio-Canada
Radio-Canada

Other restaurants close

While Cazelais remains open, other Hull restaurant owners have chosen to shut their doors for the next few days.

At vegetarian restaurant La Belle Verte, a notice on the window tells would-be customers that they're closed until Oct. 24.

Over on rue Laval, Le Troquet owner Eric Gaudreault decided to remain open over the weekend.

Though he said they were ready for the advisory, it was a bit of a hassle to work around.

"When you change habits in the work place you could just imagine what can go wrong," he said.

Le Troquet had water boiling constantly over the weekend and brought in an extra manager to ensure proper procedures were followed, Gaudreault said.

Even the McDonald's on boulevard Maisonneuve has had to work around the boil-water advisory, offering customers cans of soda rather than fountain drinks.

City of Gatineau
City of Gatineau

The city's decision to give days of notice for the boil-water advisory has meant most people have been able to take the necessary precautions, including stocking up on bottled water, said Cédric Tessier, councillor for the Hull-Wright district.

"This is the kind of work we do once in 50 years. It's this week that it's going on, and we have to live with it," Tessier told Radio-Canada.

The City of Gatineau has also told residents that their water may be discoloured while the work on the treatment plant takes place and they should let their water run until it's clear before using it.

The modernization project is expected to wrap up in 2019.