Wapiti Valley, Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy of Enns Kivin, Facebook.
There is a bit of optimism at the Water Security Agency as it releases the latest test results of water samples from the North Saskatchewan River following the July oil spill by Husky.
Only one sample, taken near North Battleford, exceeded standards for drinking water, but 17 samples showed higher than acceptable levels for aquatic life.
Water Security Agency spokesman, Sam Ferris says more testing is being done, but he remains cautiously optimistic that communities affected by the spill will be able to draw drinking water from the river before freeze up.
“I don’t have a definitive timeline,” he said. “But I am fairly confident that we will probably see the reuse of the most of the intakes, certainly before winter comes.”
The communities of Prince Albert, North Battleford and Melfort scrambled in July to find alternate water sources after the pipeline rupture, but the solutions involve overland flexible hosing that will not work when the water freezes.
Further downstream, the James Smith Cree Nation, which is located about 120 kilometers east of the spill site is also dealing with the cleanup. Ferris says the Water Security Agency is also testing foam samples from the river on the reserve, and early results indicate there are petroleum products in it.
“We found 14 detection’s for various petroleum constituents in that foam sample which was collected on the 18th of August.”
Ferris says another sample was taken on August 25th, but results are not yet back.
Meantime, the First Nation has spent nearly 20 thousand dollars of its own money on the cleanup and testing. The chief says he is not satisfied with the response from Husky.
About 250 thousand litres of oil spilled into the North Saskatchewan River on July 20th after a pipeline rupture near Maidstone.