The City of Estevan is alerting residents that there may be a water supply issue following a transmission line break exiting the water treatment plant on Friday. City Manager Amber Smale noted the water that is being supplied is safe to drink. There is no quality issue, only a supply one.
Two of the main transmission water lines into the city are disabled because the break occurred right at the treatment plant before the line splits into two of three transmission lines. A third, separate line is at present the only active one from the plant supplying the city. Between that source and the reserve supplies, the water distribution amounts to about half of the typical supply. The city has reserve water at three locations, the water tower, a reservoir on Smith Street below the tower, and the new reservoir on Wellock Road, which opened in 2013.
Should there be a further delay, water restrictions will be implemented and the public will be notified at that time.
“If we issue a restriction, it will be no watering lawns. The City also won’t water parks and green spaces and trees. We may not fill the paddling pools if we need to,” said Smale. “We’re not there yet. Right now, we just want the public to use water in your house when you absolutely need to.”
Watering lawns, Smale said, may be something property owners could forego until the break is fixed and the water supply is restored to full capacity.
The repairs require work beyond what the City is able to accommodate, so the work was contracted.
“The City doesn’t have the capacity to do this particular repair, so we do have to contract this one out. It’s like a water main break, it’s just on a larger scale,” she said.
An excavation at the site began on Tuesday morning. Kevin Sutter, water treatment plant manager, said the extent of the break and the cause couldn’t be determined prior to digging down and inspecting the leak.
“I won’t be able to assess until we have it dug,” he said during an interview on Monday. “When you see water bubbling out of the ground, that’s all we can go on right now.”
The leak was detected on Friday evening between 7:30 and 8 o’clock. Sutter said the operator monitoring the gauges and instruments in the plant at the time noticed the break immediately.
The City isn’t issuing water restrictions at this time, but it is encouraging residents to be mindful of their water usage this week, especially when temperatures begin to rise mid-week.
“Our water usage in the city is low, and that’s with the recent cooler temperatures,” said Smale. She noted with temperatures expected back in the 30s by Friday, residents may be tempted to consume more. “That’s what we’re concerned with, when the temperatures get a little bit higher.
“As the temperatures rise and people use more water, that’s going to affect it. We’re hoping to have the break fixed by the end of the week, so we won’t need to issue water restrictions, but if there is any sort of delay, then by the end of the week we will issue certain restrictions on the water.”
The water treatment plant will continue operating on a 24-hour cycle until the leak is repaired.
This is the third line break of this kind Sutter has seen during his roughly 30 years working in the city.
“We’ll get things up and running and then we’ll assess what needs to be done to make sure it doesn’t happen in the future,” said Sutter. “We’re going to try and make sure we repair this as quickly as possible, so it’s not a big issue for everybody.”
