The city of Fernie, in B.C.’s East Kootenay region, is urging residents to avoid non-essential water use in order to avoid a “catastrophic system failure” of their wastewater system.

“We are asking all residents and businesses to immediately conserve water—please limit laundry, dishwashing, showers, and all non-essential water use,” a city news release says.

The community of roughly 6,300 has been experiencing intense rain and snowfall followed by rapid melting, overwhelming its wastewater discharge system.

To try and respond to the problem, the city has been releasing untreated wastewater directly into the Elk River at multiple locations, as well as using vacuum trucks to transport waste to other locations, closing parks and trails where the operation is underway.

The city says it is working directly with the province in order to monitor and track its work but says the release of untreated wastewater is necessary in order to prevent long-term damage to prevent even larger problems.”

Additionally, severe rainfall has resulted in several road washouts and localized flooding in some homes.

Across B.C.’s Kootenay region, southern Interior and Fraser Valley, thousands of people are under alert after an atmospheric river hit the region on Wednesday, leading to rapidly rising river levels.