On Highway 6 between Dafoe and Watson there is a power pole that is falling over. It's still connected to power wires, which are the only thing preventing it from being on the ground entirely. For the people serviced by that line, it's a power outage waiting to happen. I'm not sure how long it has been this way, but it has been long enough to wonder if the pole will ever be replaced, or if it needs to yank the lines out of the socket in order to finally get some attention.
Replacing it would be a challenge, for it's currently in the middle of standing water, an example of how much wetter the province is now than it was when the pole itself was installed. Back then it made sense to put poles in that location and a road through the middle of it, we were not seeing the development of a lake in the middle of the prairie. The water itself is likely why the pole is doing the dramatic lean in the first place, as standing water and wood are not really friends, and the soaked pole has become progressively weaker over the years. Unlike many broken power poles, this will not be a simple repair, though it is an urgent one there is an argument for figuring out the best way to install a power pole in the middle of a pool. There are few examples of the changing climate in the province more clear than a string of power poles installed in the middle of the water.
That said, the water should also make it a priority, because that's where the line is going to land when it finally collapses. Water is a conductor after all, and this is going to see a lot of electricity going into this large pool. I am not an expert in the field, of course, but I know just enough to know that this line falling into the water is going to be a very bad thing. Since a bit of preventative maintenance would prevent that very bad thing, it would be good to see the pole repaired next time I drive by. It's not only an example of the increasingly wet environment faced in Saskatchewan, but also of the challenges SaskPower themselves has been facing. The corporation has been very vocal about needing to replace a large amount of their infrastructure, and the pole is a small example of the challenges they face. It is one of many poles in the province, many of which are also near failure, and shows the effect an aging infrastructure can have. One could also argue that it shows priorities that are as askew as the pole itself, given that we're in the middle of the Smart Meter debacle, with $47 million being spent on a program that, while begun with the best of intentions, mostly just started things on fire. While I can't fault the company for trying to keep other parts of its infrastructure up to date, the program was mishandled, and now we're seeing millions of dollars down the drain and are no better off for it. Meanwhile, at the edge of a busy highway, a power pole is inching increasingly closely to the water below.
The power pole is the problems of the province, as rendered in a rotten piece of wood. Infrastructure is getting old, and what is there is not made for the new, wet reality we live in. These problems can be fixed, it just needs money and effort, as well as the ability to prioritize effectively. If we don't fix it, the failure could be spectacular, and people could be left in the dark at a moment where it would greatly damage their livelihood. As a province, we need to fix our rotten power poles, literal and figurative.
