
Saskatchewan city builds long water pipeline while oil flows down river
PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Provincial officials in Saskatchewan say a riverside city whose water supply is threatened by an oil pipeline spill is building a hose, dozens of kilometres long, to draw water from another river.
Sam Ferris with Saskatchewan’s water security agency said Prince Albert is constructing a line with irrigation pipe along the ground to a spot on the South Saskatchewan River near the Muskoday First Nation, between 20 and 30 kilometres away.
The city of more than 35,000 people has been preparing to shut its regular water intakes on the North Saskatchewan River following a spill upstream of between 200,000 and 250,000 litres of crude oil and other material at a Husky Energy Pipeline near Maidstone, Sask.
Prince Albert has a few days worth of water stored in reservoirs and has also been preparing to treat water from its stormwater retention ponds while oil from Thursday’s spill flows past.