Telkwa water has been declared safe after an attempted break-in occurred at the Morris Reservoir on Oct. 12.
The Village of Telkwa and Northern Health issued a water quality advisory as a precaution in case foreign material had entered the drinking water. All the tests came back clear.
Mayor Brad Layton said someone in the neighbourhood caught the vandals in the act.
“They were trying to break into the water tower, they were not successful in getting it open but they could have gotten something past it or something, they put a hole in it,” he said. “It was so noisy, it was the neighbour was the one that heard it.”
“You start messing with someone’s water, that is scary stuff,” said Coun. Leroy Dekens. “What if they put poison in there or something, can you imagine? No one would’ve identified it until it was all through our water system.”
Layton added the resident was able to give a brief description to police.
“It narrows it down a bit because they were on a quad, not every kid has access to a quad. A description [of one of the suspects] was he was young with a scruffy, not quite grown in hair growth on his face.”
RCMP Corporal Kimberly Delwisch said Smithers RCMP are seeking the public’s help in identifying the vandals.
“There are two suspects and they arrived and left the water tower on ATV,” she said.
This comes after several places were vandalized earlier this month around the village. Public places, private homes and cars were spray painted with graffiti, including the band stand, the crosswalk under the highway and the municipal building.
However, Delwisch doesn’t think the two crimes are connected. Anyone with information about either case is asked to call the Smithers RCMP.