Water tested after factory fire

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ST. ALBERT, Ontario, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Officials said residents of a town near Ottawa may be without water for weeks because of possible contamination after a cheese factory fire.

Health officials are telling residents not to take showers or wash their clothes with water from their wells due to possible groundwater contamination from Sunday's fire, which destroyed the small town's cheese factory, famous for its curds, CBC said.

Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, the medical officer of health for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, said some of the water that was taken for testing smelled like smoke, which suggests possible contamination.

CBC said tests will likely take three or four days but the water may not be safe to use for a longer.

"Most of the people in this area are on private wells. We can't guarantee that their wells have not been contaminated by sort of an underwater, underground seepage of these chemicals," Roumeliotis said.