‘Black things floating in it’: Residents of downtown Victoria building dealing with dirty water

With the sky-high rents being paid in downtown Victoria, you expect a basic necessity like water to be covered.

“Not being able to drink the water, and also that the water is contaminated, is not a safe feeling at all in the place you’re supposed to feel at home,” says Carlie Pennington.

Pennington’s home is Hudson House in downtown Victoria, an attractive brick building in the Hudson District at 1700 Blanshard Street.

Last weekend, Pennington says water in the building was cut off unexpectedly. The next day, tenants were asked to run their faucets, but what came out looked far from drinkable.

“It was brown,” says a resident who’s lived in the building for almost a year, and who has asked to remain anonymous. “There were black things floating in it.”

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Hudson House in downtown Victoria is pictured. (CHEK News)

A notice was sent out to tenants advising them to boil water for three minutes after filtering it. The building offered refilling stations in the gym where tenants can refill jugs and pitchers, but Pennington says the warning came too late.

“I got violently sick at work,” she says. Pennington works in child care and says she’s spoken with others in the building who got sick at the same time.

Townline Homes owns and operates the property, and CHEK News received no response by deadline.

The notice to residents said a test kit was being obtained Wednesday (April 17) and that water testing would take approximately a week. Some residents feel bottled water isn’t something they should be paying for.

As of Friday afternoon, residents had yet to receive an update, but the precautionary procedures continue. Pennington feels for the building’s manager, but has decided to move on.

“The next step is moving and getting away from this place,” she says.

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