STATE OF EMERGENCY
Prince Albert water crisis
The City of Prince Albert has switched to emergency water reserves and banned residents from using water for nonessential purposes as oil from the Husky Energy pipeline leak floats down the North Saskatchewan River, encroaching on the city.
The intake for the city’s water treatment plant was shut down at 6:15 a.m. Monday and the city’s emergency water reserve was expected to last 48 hours with restriction efforts in place.
In the meantime, city crews are treating water at retention ponds in the hopes it can provide water to residents and businesses for another four days, and crews are building a 30-kilometre pipe to bring water from the South Saskatchewan River.
That pipe is expected to be up and running by Wednesday afternoon.
City manager Jim Toye said he doesn’t have an estimate for how much the above-ground pipe will cost to build and run, but “it will be in the millions of dollars.”
Husky Energy is expected to pick up those costs.
“Husky has assured us that they will make us whole, they will compensate us for any costs that we have and that we incur and that’s to date and that’s moving forward,” Mayor Greg Dionne told reporters Monday.
Dionne said Husky officials called him late Sunday to let him know a thin oil sheen had been spotted near Prince Albert and could reach the city and its water treatment plant intake by Monday.
City council convened an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon; council declared a state of emergency and banned all nonessential water use. People and businesses that water lawns, wash vehicles or engage in other non-necessary watering will be fined $1,400 per occurrence.
Dionne said he hopes the city doesn’t have to issue too many tickets. “Most people understand that we’re in a situation, so I don’t think enforcement’s going to be an issue,” he said.
Water parks in the city have been shut down and laundromats and car washes have been asked to suspend operations. Dionne said Husky Energy may compensate companies for lost business.
“It’s just not us they’re going to take care of, they’ll mitigate the damages that are caused to our community,” he said.
The City of Prince Albert supplies water to three rural municipalities and some small towns. Service to those centres has been shut off, leaving about 1,000 homes without water. Dionne said this was “a tough decision,” but providing water to the residents of Prince Albert is the first priority and service to the rural centres will be returned once the pipe from the South Saskatchewan River is providing water to the treatment plant.
Though oil was not obvious on the South Saskatchewan River in Prince Albert on Monday, Toye said it’s only a matter of time and that he hopes officials from Husky arrive soon to ensure the oil “is not going to have a dramatic, drastic impact” on the city’s riverbanks.