By Greg Higgins

N.B. dredging delayed again; will be done before winter

Oct 11, 2016 | 5:21 PM

Unclogging the sediment build-up obstructing North Battleford’s water treatment plant has been put off until the end of the week.

Dredging in the North Saskatchewan River to remove sandbars around the intake at the F.E. Holiday plant was supposed to begin in July but was postponed due to the Husky oil spill. The project was scheduled to commence Tuesday, Oct. 11 but the company hired is held up at another job.

Suzanne Abe is North Battleford’s communications coordinator and said dredging is now scheduled to start Friday, Oct. 14. She added it is important to get it done before winter hits.

“We need to remove the build up around the intake if we want to be able to use it next year,” Abe said. “Because we aren’t using the intake right now the city won’t be affected, but if we don’t do it now we would have to wait until next summer to get it done.”

The operation will take 16 days and the company will work over the weekend to ensure the dredging is completed as soon as possible.

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Abe said she is not worried about another clog next spring.

“There is always concerns that dredging will happen again,” Abe said. “If we dredge now then everything will probably still be clear in the spring to take in the water.”

According to city manager, Jim Puffalt, the dredging won’t affect the new filtration system being built which is supposed to be ready for use before the waterline from Battleford freezes. He said the new filtration system will feed water to the plant directly without an intake.   

Abe said the cost of the project was budgeted for $150,000 in 2016 but due to the severity of the clog it will cost an additional $82,000. According to Abe the city will try to find additional money in the 2016 budget or make room in 2017.

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