With -20 C temperatures taking hold outside, it is obvious the temporary supply line won’t be supplying water from Battleford for too much longer.
Fortunately, the new GE filtration system is close to coming online, which would allow the F.E. Holliday water treatment plant to access the river water just in time for the Battleford line to close down for the winter.
The supply line had been set up in the wake of the Husky oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River. But it is not designed to operate during cold winter conditions when the water starts to freeze up.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot posed a question to administration about how the supply line was doing in the wake of the recent cold snap.
Despite the cold conditions, the water line was “still flowing,” said Director of Operations Stewart Schafer.
Schafer said the water temperature as of Friday was 5.6 C.
“It is dropping,” Schafer admitted.
Schafer added that the final commissioning was being done for the long-awaited General Electric filtration system this week.
He said it was believed that by the end of the week the supply line would be turned off, and then drained for storage over the winter months.
