By Geoff Smith

Several options to add to N.B. water supply

Jul 27, 2016 | 2:13 PM

North Battleford’s water supply continues to keep up, as provincial and municipal officials explore longer-term options to deal with the contaminated North Saskatchewan River.

Sam Ferris, an official with the Water Security Agency, said there are four options being considered for the city. One, as previously reported, is to connect the currently idle F.E. Holliday Water Treatment Plant to the Battle River. Another is to pipe in water from the Town of Battleford’s system. The third would be to increase the number of wells supplying Treatment Plant Number One and the fourth is a technology-based pre-treatment system.

Speaking during a briefing with reporters Wednesday, July 11, Ferris said while there continues to be enough water for North Battleford that’s only because of a major conservation effort.

“At this time, they’re okay,” Ferris said. “But in order to use the full range of regular water uses like watering your garden, watering your lawn, some of the commercial uses like car washes and the like, they’re going to need to have more water come in.”

Ferris said the pre-treatment system being looked at would require a good understanding of how it works first. While it partly uses a carbon filtration system that’s well-understood, how it works with other components remains to be seen.

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“Treating raw water contaminated with petroleum for drinking water purposes is unusual,” he said. “What we’re talking about is a mix of technologies able to provide a specialized service. But we’re going to do our best to come to an understanding of how this system looks and try to get the approvals in place.”

Ferris said North Battleford can get by with the existing treatment plant for “some time” as long as there is not a major event that would require excessive water. But an alternate source would be needed for the full range of normal water usage.

Geoff Smith is battlefordsNOW’s News Director, business and agriculture reporter. He can be reached at gsmith@jpbg.ca or tweet him @smithco.

by Geoff Smith

Several options to add to N.B. water supply

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