A number of updates were provided at Monday’s city planning committee meeting with respect to waterworks in North Battleford.
The big news from utilities director Stewart Schafer is that the temporary supply line from the Town of Battleford is back up and running, as of April.
The line had been turned off during the winter months, but now is commissioned and back online, pumping water to the city.
The return of the Battleford line to service comes just in the nick of time. Schafer reported that some problems have been reported with the GE filtration system.
The issue was with sand plugging its temporary water intake. Divers tried to resolve the situation by attempting to remove the sand around the intake, but the river was deemed too dangerous. The city plans to try again later on, once the water settles down.
Overall, North Battleford is relying on a combination of the Battleford supply line, GE filtration and four additional wells for its water supply, in the wake of the Husky oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River.
The Battleford line brings in 20 l of water per second, GE brings in 40 l/sec, and the new wells bring in 30 l/sec.
That brings in 90 l/s, replacing the 100 l/s that was obtained when F.E. Holliday was running normally without the GE system.
Schafer said the city believes it can make up the 10 l/s difference by taking it easy on their watering system on their parks.
The supply line and the GE filtration system are considered temporary fixes until the city gets the all-clear to utilize F.E. Holliday again full-time, something city officials anticipate could happen later this summer.
A 10-inch service tie-in to Saskatchewan Hospital from F.E. Holliday plant was also completed, and the 18 inch line is back in service there as well.
In related news about public works in the city, the 2016 wastewater quality report was released. According to Schafer’s memo to council dated May 5, the city is meeting or exceeding the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency guidelines for wastewater quality.
The news about the waterworks activities during the month of April comes as activity resumes with the shoreline cleanup of the North Saskatchewan River in the wake of the Husky oil spill last year.
At Monday’s meeting, Planning Committee received a release from Saskatchewan Environment on the ongoing cleanup and the planned activities for 2017. According to that report more than 90 percent of the oil was recovered and accounted for by September 2016. In total, 1812 SCAT shoreline surveys were completed and 802 kilometers of shoreline surveyed last year.
City manager Jim Puffalt said he had met with Husky officials the previous week about the shoreline cleanup efforts for 2017.
Husky are renting the Don Ross Arena and will be using the boat launch as well, and that work will be going on throughout the summer. Four dogs will be utilized on the ground to sniff out oil products as part of that effort.
Mayor Ryan Bater added that he’s found “the communication with Husky to be strong,” and said that the CEO of Husky Energy has let him know that if council has any concerns he could be contacted directly. A government relations official is also available out of Lloydminster if they have any concerns as well.
