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Town to City waterline expected to close

Dec 6, 2016 | 12:21 PM

The City of North Battleford will be able to provide its own residents with fresh water in a few weeks without relying on its neighbouring town.

Battleford town council learned at last night’s regular meeting the line that has been supplying water to the City of North Battleford from across the river is expected to be closed by at least Dec. 28.

The waterline that connects the city and town has been used to support North Battleford’s water supply following the Husky oil spill, since existing filtration in the city was unable to remove the oil.

At the latest Battleford town council meeting on Dec. 5, Councillor Doug Laing reported on the quality assurance quality control for the town’s water plant. During the discussion, he reported that the plant is expected to stop feeding water through the line by the end of the month.  

 “It is continuing to run hopefully till around the Christmas time or till Mother Nature decides that the water is no longer going to run down the pipeline, or until they get their water plant up and running again,” Laing said.

The City of North Battleford had approved a new pre-filtration system at the F.E. Holiday plant, which they were hoping to get up and running by Dec. 5. After the filtration system is put in place and testing and training is done, the city would be able to stop relying on the town for water.

However, Laing suggested that the city may be behind in its plans.

“I was there today and they were having some challenges,” he said.

The city is hoping to use that water line from the town for a few weeks still, and Laing said while the town has no issue with that, it’s also up to the weather. He said if the weather drops to some of the expected temperatures, the water will freeze in the line.

“We’ll go week by week and hope that North Battleford gets the F.E. Holiday Plant up to their usual standards and their criteria that they need and we are glad to help where we could,” Laing said.

About a million pounds of water is being put through the town’s plant per day with it also having to support the city, but Laing also wants to assure Battleford citizens that water quality is still up to par.

“The more water we use the better our water becomes. Our levels are getting better as we use more, so if people are wondering if we’re getting the same quality of water as we had four months ago, it’s actually better,” he said.

 

Katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca

@ksvenkeson