An incident at F.E. Holliday water treatment plant on Tuesday sounded the alarm that led to the precautionary drinking water advisory issued throughout North Battleford.
City officials addressed the situation at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, in which they provided more details as to what happened at the plant.
According to City Manager Jim Puffalt, the incident took place at 12:16 p.m. Tuesday.
For six minutes, partially-treated water bypassed the water treatment processes and flowed into the treated water reservoir of the surface water plant, due to an operational error, he said.
"At 12:22 p.m., the water quality alarms went off and we immediately shut down the plant," said Puffalt.
As a consequence, the precautionary drinking water advisory was issued in consultation with the Water Security Agency, said Puffalt.
Puffalt said efforts were made to further evaluate the situation in the evening.
"The results of that work indicated that in all likelihood the partially-treated water remained within the water treatment plant."
The main concern of officials was to make sure the water hadn't gotten into the distribution system.
The City commenced flushing of the surface water main closest to the water treatment plant as an additional precaution in the event the water left the plant before the shutdown. Puffalt said the line being flushed is isolated to protect the distribution system.
To further reduce the risk, the City also disinfected and was flushing water from the surface water treatment plant reservoirs.
Additional water testing is being done, said Puffalt, and he said it will take two to three days to do the testing and ensure the water is safe.
He is urging residents to respect the water advisory, and adds it is necessary until they determine for sure that the water is safe.
"We believe it was contained within the water treatment plant; we can't one hundred percent guarantee. We're not going to take any chances with peoples' health."
In attendance at the news conference were various representatives including those from the City, the provincial Water Security Agency and Prairie North Health Region. Mayor Ian Hamilton had not been able to get back from vacation in time to attend.
Unlike the cryptosporidium crisis of 2001, this boil-water order was not prompted due to people coming down sick from drinking the water.
"So far we've not received any report of people being sick because of the incident," said Dr. Mandiangu Nsungu, medical health officer of Prairie North Health Region, at the media conference. He pledged to continue surveillance of the situation.
With Northwest Territorial Days going on, a prime concern has been food and drink safety at the fair and also at restaurants that use the City's water supply.
Don Corrigal, manager of the department of protective services with the region, said they received a call from the Water Security Agency Tuesday afternoon and identified a list of at-risk facilities.
He said the initial target was care facilities in the city, and they were able to get to those facilities and ensure the safety and health of those residents.
The priority on Wednesday, said Corrigal, was a list of about 200 locations in the city. A staff of four went around to restaurants, the fair, swimming pools and various other sites to ensure they knew about the advisory and were taking the needed precautions to address concerns raised by the advisory.
"We anticipated being able to visit all of those 200-plus facilities by mid-afternoon, and it looks like they are on task, and on time" said Corrigal.
Puffalt pledged to continue with regular updates on the situation and expressed his hope the precautionary drinking water advisory could be lifted as quickly as possible. He also stressed again the need to minimize water consumption at this point in time.
