Too much bad water and not enough of the good.
That was the situation in Watson over Easter weekend.
Starting on April 21, water in Iron Spring Creek, which runs by Watson began to rise and had members of the local municipalities out sandbagging on two grid roads in the hope of slowing it down enough to keep Watson from flooding.
Then on Good Friday, April 22, at about 1:50 p.m., the Town of Watson declared a state of emergency in their community due to a main line water break at the town's north well.
The well, located about a mile north along Hwy. 6, is the main water supply for Watson, and the break left the town with very little water.
That is definitely an emergency, noted Mike Saretsky, Mayor of Watson, on April 25, which was why they declared it as such.
Access to the well was also limited due to rising runoff waters.
Though residents were asked immediately to conserve water where they could, which they did, and though the Town had plans in place to truck water in if necessary, late Friday night, they were able to repair the leak, Saretsky reported.
The Watson Fire Department assisted in getting a repairman out to the well - they used quads and came in over the field, as water flowing over the road to the wells from Hwy. 6 prevented access from the front.
The well was pumped dry and a temporary fix was put in place.
Though it was fixed, the town decided to keep the declaration in effect, Saretsky noted, as a small leak was still evident and access to the well was extremely limited.
It took a few days to build their water supply back up, but residents are now able to consume water at a regular rate.
There was no boil water notice, he added, as there was never an issue with the water treatment plant, just the water supply.
Too much
All this occurred in the middle of dealing with too much runoff water around the town.
By April 24, Iron Spring Creek, which flows by Watson, was flowing at its third-highest rate since 1921.
On April 21, water in Iron Spring Creek was moving fast enough to be of concern to municipal officials, and sandbags were soon being filled north of Watson.
"We'll probably end up doing about a quarter of a kilometre in grainbags (on two grid roads)," said Saretsky on the afternoon of April 21.
"If we'd let things go, we'd be in a pile of trouble right now," he added.
Sandbags were being filled on Green Meadow Road, about four miles north of Watson, to slow the flood of water south, and on Rosebush Road, about two miles north of Watson, to try and stop the water completely.
"Rosebush is the last stand between the town and flood," said Saretsky. "We're trying to slow it at Green Meadow so there's not a lot of problems at Rosebush."
Members of the Watson Fire Department and employees with the RM of Spalding, along with a number of volunteers, had been sandbagging all morning and into the afternoon on April 21. Machinery would hold the grain bags open, and fill the bags, while the manpower focused on unfolding the bags and guiding the machines.
Though the bags were being filled quickly, there was no sense of panic in the community. They were, after all, just setting in motion plans made months ago.
Between the Town of Watson and the RM of Spalding, someone had been diligently checking for flooding in the area every morning.
"Today, one of our councillors was out with the Reeve (of the RM) and spotted a problem," Saretsky said.
Water was running over Green Meadow Road in two places, even running over a dike built on the north side of it, putting Rosebush road at risk.
"We had a plan in place for months of how to deal (with possible flooding) and we put that plan into effect," Saretsky said.
Firefighters from the Watson Fire Department and RM equipment were out on the roads within hours, filing the sandbags.
The RM is supplying the equipment and the materials for the sandbags, Saretsky explained, and the Town supplied the bags and the labour.
Though the sandbagging isn't occurring within the Town of Watson, the town agreed to work with the RM because "obviously, it's in our best interest," Saretsky noted.
A group consisting of the Town council, the town's Water and Sewer committee, the local emergency measures organizations, the fire department, and the Reeve and council of the RM, started meeting in January to make plans for the spring.
They felt, after experiencing water problems in Watson for the past seven consecutive years, "it was time to get organized," Saretsky said.
"There's been a lot of flooding and almost flooding and we're scrambling at the last minute. It comes fast," he added. "Every spring it keeps getting worse."
In years past, they would watch and pray, Saretsky said.
"This year, we decided we'll watch and react."
They applied for funding from the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority's Flood Protection Program, and received $25,000 to help cover some of the costs of protecting the town.
In addition to sandbagging out of town, the Town built dikes around their two town wells to protect the water supply - one of those wells was where the break occurred the next day - and diked their storm sewer.
Creeks between Hwys. 5 and 6, which meet in the community, were also cleaned out to try and help the water move along.
"It's a good thing we did that," Saretsky noted. "If we hadn't, we would have had big problems right now."
They are not inexperienced in fighting floods in the Watson area, Saretsky noted.
They've had two problems in the past, the first being the storm sewer filling and flooding the town from the west. The second has been water coming in from the east side of town. But that has been reworked since the last flood.
"There's hardly any water there," he said of the east side.
This year, the storm sewer was their big worry.
"If we keep managing things, we'll be okay," Saretsky said on April 21. "Cool weather would be nice," he added.
They've been lucky weather-wise so far, noted Norma Weber, a member of Watson's Water and Sewer committee. They've had a slow melt and water has been freezing at night, which has helped the situation.
Things still looked good for Watson on April 25, despite the weekend's excitement with the water main break.
Though Green Meadow Road eventually had to be cut in order to save culverts in another part of the road, Rosebush Road was hanging in there, Saretsky reported.
Saskatchewan Emergency Measures had been out in a helicopter on Sunday, he added, and has told them that the water has crested. That means they will have four to five days left of strong flows, but it should go no higher than it has.
"All of our planning has paid off," Saretsky said. "Our efforts on Rosebush road definitely held enough water to take the pressure off (the town's systems)," he said.
"If not for the water main break, we would have been fine."
Saretsky had high praise for those who have worked hard to keep Watson safe this spring, including the RMs of Spalding and Lakeside, the Watson Fire Department, the local emergency measures organization, the Saskatchewan EMO and the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority, the volunteers and the Water and Sewer committee members Weber, Garth Davis and Mike Brost.
He also thanked the countless volunteers who took time to help.
"Without all these people involved, it would have been a lot worse," he said.
