Bottled water and filtration systems are flying off the shelves at some local outlets in the wake of the continuous chlorination imposed on Chilliwack’s water system by Fraser Health officials.
It started last week, said Chilliwack PriceSmart foods manager Cal Siemens.
“We have definitely had an increase in water sales,” he said.
It’s impossible to provide a specific total or a percentage of sales, the store manager said, but sales are up in that category.
“In the first couple of days, we certainly noticed we had some empty shelves,” he said.
The PriceSmart stocks a broad selection of water products from bulk water with reverse osmosis, as well as filtration systems like the biggest sellers from Brita.
The city’s emergency chlorination system was activated last week in the wake of a report of E.coli on the valley floor in Greendale. Residents learned the chlorination is going to stay on in definitely.
The Chilliwack Water Store, owned by Stuart Mitchell and Victoria Theriault, has also seen a solid spike in the number of calls, customer visits and bottled water sales at the Yale Road establishment this week.
“The biggest thing we’re seeing is more inquiries about the different methods of filtering out the chlorine,” he said.
Some of the clientele have been arriving at the store in a bit of a panic over the recent introduction of chlorine to the Chilliwack water system.
“We’ve been trying to answer their concerns and reassure them at the same time,” Mitchell said.
The store specializes in reverse osmosis bottled water, and water coolers, as well as supplying shower heads with built-in filters and complete home water filtration systems by Waterite. The in-house water is also filtered, using charcoal carbon filtration.
“We’re definitely selling more bottled water this week,” said Mitchell. “And many of our old customers have been coming back to us.”
Jim Smith, the Pacific Area Manager for Waterite Technologies was on-site at the Chilliwack Water Store on Wednesday, updating store personnel on their full filtration product line, including the Filter Soft Triplex system to remove sediment, chlorine and more.
jfeinberg@theprogress.com
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