'It's somewhat of a miracle': Emergency water sources in place for Prince Albert
Concern raised about winter in 90 days
Officials in Prince Albert are expressing relief that three emergency sources of water are in place for the city, announcing that some restrictions on use have been lifted.
Exactly two weeks after an oil spill from a Husky Energy pipeline into the North Saskatchewan River, the province's third-largest city has been able to operate its water treatment plant with temporary lines.
"It's somewhat of a miracle," Andy Busse, the facility manager, said Thursday. "Once the water is in, the operators continually checking all the online monitoring equipment and are adjusting chemical dosages."
The city is pumping water from a storm water retention pond, the Little Red River and the South Saskatchewan River.
Rural residents will be getting water from Prince Albert by the weekend. Have been without for two weeks. <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCSask">@CBCSask</a> <a href="https://t.co/thCflTsNhd">pic.twitter.com/thCflTsNhd</a>
—@Devin_HerouxResidents have been told they may resume using water for lawns so long as they follow an even-odd street number schedule. Restrictions on some businesses, such as laundromats and car washes, have also been eased.
"It's exciting. We know that money is coming in and jobs are safe again," Cody Burns, from the 6th Avenue Car Wash, said. "We were a little bit worried there for employees."
Residents were also happy to tend to their vehicles.
"[We've] been waiting," Brent Neurauter, who drove into Prince Albert to use the car wash, said Thursday. "[We'll] clean the dirty car and get all the bugs off. All good."
Jim Toye, Prince Albert's city manager, said officials are looking to Husky Energy for more information so they can plan for the future.
"There's still information that we need from Husky regarding the water the testing that they've done," Toye said. "We don't know what we're dealing with. It's hard to come up with a solution if we don't know what's coming downstream."
Toye said the city doesn't know how long they'll be using their improvised water sources, however he noted that winter freeze up is about 90 days away.
With files from CBC's Devin Heroux