A Precautionary Drinking Water Advisory was issued this morning for properties in the Highland and Trail Subdivisions in Swift Current.

That means the advisory is for all properties north of the TransCanada and west of Central Avenue or Highway 4 - excluding industrial properties west of Highland Subdivision. Those are properties in Zone 1 and part of Zone 2.

The city's director of engineering services and operations, Greg Parsons, said high water usage in North Hill Reservoir last night depressurized the system in the affected area - causing people to be without water or have low pressure this morning.

"We had high water usage through the night at the North Hill Reservoir and so basically depressurized the system in that area, which caused everybody to be without water for probably a couple or three, four hours," Parsons said. "So basically water-security agency, once we notified them, then they put out the precautionary boiled water advisory."

A release from the city said these advisories generally last from 48 to 72 hours.

Once the advisory is over people are advised to let each tap run for 20 seconds or longer until the water is clear.

"Everything should be back to normal now," said Parsons. "Everybody should be back to having water. It's just this advisory goes out so any time you want to brush your teeth or drink it, you should boil it for, I think they say up to a minute, as a precautionary thing. And once we get the samples back from the lab we can rescind that order and everybody should be back to normal."

PDWAs apply to any water that may wind up being injested, including water for drinking, brushing teeth, soaking dentures, washing produce, washing dishes by hand (residents are encouraged to use the hot water cycle on their dishwasher, if possible), making ice cubes and swalling water in the shower or bath.