Listen to daily commentary from provincial news director Sarah Mills
Sarah Mills says parents are probably breathing a sigh of relief as kids head back to school after the Easter break.
The people of Prince Albert and North Battleford will have to wait a little longer to see when regular water will flow again.
Both cities are on temporary water supply since the Husky oil spill in July.
About 225,000 litres of oil spilled into the North Saskatchewan River, which at it’s height, impacted water to 69,000 residents.
A series of tests continue to be done by the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) but more capacity results are needed, which determine what the treatment plants can handle, before a decision is made.
“I’m hopeful that use of the water intakes will be able to be used within the next few weeks,” explained Sam Ferris, with the WSA. “We remain hopeful that we will be able to see the return to use of the regular intakes before winter hits.”
The temporary water supply is essentially large hosepipes that won’t withstand the harsh temperatures of winter.
Since the oil spill on July 22, 73 per cent of the oil has been recovered and 85 per cent of the shoreline has been cleaned.
At last count 144 wildlife have died as a result of the spill.
