Despite an extremely challenging year in 2016, with an oil spill and other adversities, the city of North Battleford maintained its good water quality through the year.
The 2016 annual report on drinking water quality was presented at Monday night’s council meeting. According to the memo presented from Director of Utility Services Stewart Schafer, the city’s potable water meets the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency’s guidelines.
The report has now been sent to the Water Security Agency for their records. The annual report to council is a requirement of the city’s license to operate water treatment facilities.
There were several highlights. According to the report, a total of 378 samples were submitted as part of the routine monitoring of the distribution system, and none came back positive for total coliforms or e-coli.
There were 369 “other” samples taken as a result of new services, complaints, water main breaks or construction activity. Of those, total coliforms were detected in four locations and none tested positive for e-coli. There were also two cases where the chlorine levels fell below guidelines but corrective actions were taken and the follow-up samples were within the guidelines.
As well, the annual average for trihalomethanes was below the maximum acceptable concentration, and monthly chlorine readings were above the minimum guidelines entering the distribution system.
The report also acknowledged the multitude of actions taken as a result of the Husky Energy oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River in late July. The executive summary notes the spill “significantly impacted the City of North Battleford’s water production.”
According to the executive summary, F.E. Holliday water treatment plant was unable to produce water from the North Saskatchewan River from July 23 to Dec. 21.
Husky Energy provided funding for four new production wells at Water Treatment Plant No. 1, and a temporary water line from the town of Battleford was constructed.
Husky also provided funding for the temporary pre-treatment filtration system to remove hydrocarbons from the raw water in the river at F.E. Holliday plant, which was commissioned in December.
The oil spill added to the problems seen at the F.E. Holliday plant after it was hit by a water-hammer incident that damaged equipment at the plant in August of 2015. That incident resulted in several months of reduced output and repairs at the plant.
Despite that, administration saw the water report results as a major positive.
“Considering everything we’ve gone through over the last couple of years, we were able to provide water that met the WSA guidelines throughout the year,” said City Manager Jim Puffalt. “Congratulatations to our staff for all their hard work.”
The report is a public document, and Puffalt pledged to council that it will be made available on the city’s website.
