By Greg Higgins

Water restrictions taking a financial toll on the community

Jul 26, 2016 | 5:00 PM

The oil spill has North Battleford businesses trimming down employee hours and in some cases shutting down completely.

Carwashes and laundromats were told to stop using water Friday, July 22. The request was made after the city issued a water conservation advisory following the Husky oil leak in the North Saskatchewan River.

Jay Bottomley, Owner of Betty Bubbles in North Battleford, is concerned about the financial toll it might take.

“Just because we close doesn’t mean the banks stop taking mortgages,” Bottomely said. “Right now I have six employees and no work for them. I’m losing $1,500 to $2,000 a day. Apparently there might be some compensation but how long will that take?”

Betty Bubbles isn’t the only carwash affected by the forced water conservation. David Materi is the manager of Splish Splash carwash which has been lucky enough to stay open just not at full capacity.

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 2

21h ago

Fond Memories

North Stars' 20-year-olds reflect on junior hockey experience: Part 1

Apr 18, 2024

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

“The employees have all basically been sent home,” Materi said. “We only have one working a day when we’d normally have three. We’re still open for U-Haul truck rentals and if people need to vacuum their cars. If this goes on for a while my concern may become the next bank payment.”

Husky announced it has set up a process to help people, businesses and communities affected. The company has a team in place to address any questions and help with the claims process. 

Bottomley also said the city was unjust in forcing him to turn the water off.

“I think the decision to shut down the car washes was made in haste,” Bottomley said. “There are other businesses that use a lot more water than us. I am sure the golf course and the concrete plant are still running. I also reuse all my reverse osmosis water so there is a lot less waste. The Canadian Carwash Association has done studies and found carwashes in smaller municipalities account for less than one per cent of total water usage. The hoses I use have such high water pressure that a person taking a seven minute shower would use more water than it would take to wash five cars.”

According to Suzanne Abe, the city’s communications manager, the decision was to shut down all non-essential water use and users. The first to get shut down were city properties after park watering was stopped. Next came water use at laundromats and car washes.

Abe said the golf course uses SaskWater and the concrete plant uses another water source as well. The highest water users are the hospitals. Abe said the Saskatchewan Hospital has its own reservoir and the Union Hospital is essential so those locations will not be cut off.

Hotels make up the rest of the top five. The city is asking property managers to come up with a plan to help the conservation efforts.

–Editor’s note: This story was changed July 27 at 12:07 p.m. to correct information. David Materi’s name is spelled ‘Materi’ not ‘Metari’ he rents U-Hauls, not budget trucks.

Greg Higgins is battlefordsNOW’s city municipal affairs and health reporter. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.