Harbour Breton is among the growing number of municipalities dealing with a water shortage in the wake of what’s been an unusually hot and dry summer.

Mayor Lloyd Blake says the town was forced to issue a non-consumption order on the weekend after encountering low water levels in its system.

He says the town operates on a gallery system.

“And that went completely empty” says Blake. Even though residents didn’t lose water, the town had to take steps to prevent that from happening.

“We had to get a piece of equipment in to open a channel between the pond and the gallery, and after a while…we did get the water back into the gallery. It’s up now about 10 to 8 inches” says Blake.

In the process of opening up the channel some silt and debris did get into the water system which prompted the non-consumption, and subsequent boil water order order.