Pinning its hopes on kilometres-long hose

Prince Albert prepares to start suctioning out 250,000 litres of crude that spilled into river

PRINCE ALBERT, SASK.— Provincial officials in Saskatchewan say a riverside city whose water supply is threatened by an oil pipeline spill is building a hose, dozens of kilometres long, to draw water from another river.

Sam Ferris with Saskatchewan’s water security agency said Prince Albert is constructing a line with irrigation pipe along the ground to a spot on the South Saskatchewan River near the Muskoday First Nation, between 20 and 30 kilometres away.

The city of more than 35,000 people has been preparing to shut its regular water intakes on the North Saskatchewan River following a spill upstream of between 200,000 and 250,000 litres of crude oil and other material at a Husky Energy Pipeline near Maidstone, Sask.

Prince Albert has a few days worth of water stored in reservoirs and has also been preparing to treat water from its stormwater retention ponds while oil from Thursday’s spill flows past.

Wes Kotyk, with Saskatchewan’s environmental protection branch, said officials don’t know how long the cleanup will take.

North Battleford, which is further upstream, shut off its water supply intakes on Friday and is now relying on a limited supply from wells.

“It might have to serve for some time,” Ferris said Sunday about the water pipeline Prince Albert is building.

“We don’t know how long the event will endure.”

Prince Albert’s city manager, Jim Toye, said the water line will be functioning later this week and will utilize 30 pumps, each with 400 horsepower.

“We understand the water situation could be as long as two months,” Toye said Sunday.

North Battleford has imposed strict water-use restrictions and Toye said Prince Albert’s council will pass its own restrictions on Monday.

The oil pipeline that leaked runs from Husky’s heavy oil operations to its facilities in Lloydminster and carries oil mixed with a lighter hydrocarbon, called a diluent, that’s added to ease the flow.

The province advises people to avoid recreational contact with the water where the oil plume has passed, and fishing in the affected parts of the river is not advisable.