The Water Security Agency has issued its latest water quality sampling update for Sept. 1, and there are no real surprises to report.
So far results are in for 135 surface water quality samples, plus one foam sample. These were tested for such substances as petroleum hydrocarbon F1 to F4 fractions, BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene) and for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
To this point the WSA has seen one sample exceed drinking water standards: for Benzo(a)pyrene at North Battleford along the northeast bank of the river. According to the WSA update it was just above the current drinking water quality guideline value of 0.01 ug/L and measured 0.02 ug/L (parts per billion).
Seventeen water samples had exceeded guidelines for protection of aquatic life: 11 for toluene, three for pyrene, two for fluoranthene, and one for benzo(a)pyrene. There were another 43 detections in water samples that were below guideline values.
There were 14 detections of petroleum constituents in the foam sample, according to the update, as phenanthrene was found to be at a concentration greater than the quality guidelines.
