A ruptured water line left rural residents without water on Thursday, and a precautionary boil water advisory in place until at least Wednesday.
The incident took place on Thursday afternoon, when a contractor damaged a water line about six kilometres outside of the city, cutting off water for those east and south of Davis Road.
Muskoday First Nation has also been affected by the water outage.
“Nobody was getting any water to their tanks, because it was all going out the break in the line,” Prince Albert Rural Water Utility general manager Ken Danger said.
“And, of course the line was damaged underneath a slough, so there’s potential for the slough water to enter our line.”
Things since the rupture have been going smoothly, Danger said, with water pressure panned to be restored to residents by as early as Friday night and as late as Saturday.
With the restoration of water will come a precautionary boil water advisory.
“We’ll feel reasonably good about our water, but we have to do two sets of samples on consecutive days (that) have to be clear,” Danger explained.
Samples will be taken on Monday and Tuesday, with results expected back from the Saskatoon lab as early as Wednesday night.
Nobody was getting any water to their tanks, because it was all going out the break in the line. - Ken Danger
“If they’re bogged down because of the holiday, we might not get them back until
Thursday morning,” Danger said.
Although a precautionary boil water advisory will be in place until at least Wednesday, Danger notes that nothing harmful has been found in the water.
“It’s strictly precautionary, but when your line is damaged under a slough there’s certainly potential for slough water — contaminated water — to enter the line,” Danger said.
Until further notice, affected residents are urged to put all water used for drinking purposes at a rolling boil for at least one minute, as well as water used for brushing teeth, washing fruit and other such purposes.
Water shouldn’t be used to wash dishes unless the water has been adequately boiled or sanitized.
Additional precautionary safety tips are available on the RM’s website, http://rmprincealbert.ca.
