A water pipeline snakes its way from Little Red River towards Prince Albert’s water treatment plan. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski
The water situation in central Saskatchewan could be described as steady and stable on Friday, as three communities and a First Nation get through their first 16 days of using alternate and emergency water sources following last week’s oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River.
On Friday, Prince Albert announced it has enough water to restore service to about 1,200 rural customers who were cut off July 21 when the spill happened.
In a media release, Toye cautioned that “as the City is resuming gradual resumption of water service to its customers, risk still remains with the infrastructure, and as such, the City reserves the right to re-impose water restrictions if necessary.”
North Battleford is expected to be drawing water from neighbouring Battleford and in Melfort, residents are getting by with an old reservoir. On the Muskoday First Nation, water is still being trucked in and the reservoirs are full.
Now, crews are getting a much needed break, said Emergency Management Commissioner Duane McKay.
“We are using this opportunity to change out as much staff as possible,” he said. “Many of our folks have been working straight through the last two weeks and it’s an opportunity for us to take a bit of a breather.”
The cleanup of the spill is continuing with more than 139,000 litres now recovered. The process will be a long one.
An investigation has also been launched, which could result in charges laid against Husky if it is found to be negligent.
It’s too early to speculate about that right now, said Ministry of Environment spokesman Kevin McCullum.
“It’s just something that is being discussed at this point,” he said. “Right now it’s a little premature to be looking at that. My focus right now is took at the science of it and to make sure the cleanup and operations are going well.”
Up to 250,000 litres of heavy oil spilled from a pipeline near Maidstone on July 21. Testing has revealed the water meets Health Canada standards, however the Water Security Agency wants to do a lot more testing and conduct a risk assessment analysis before allowing communities to hook back into the river.
The death count from the spill is now 69 animals, mostly birds and fish. These affected animals were recovered near the site of the spill.
Husky is committed to paying for the entire clean up and associated costs.