Despite a year of challenges, Estevan's water treatment plant is continuing to meet the city's needs.
The annual water quality report was released at the Feb. 6 meeting of city council. The report is required to be released once a year by the provincial government as part of the City's permit to operate the plant.
Although the City had to deal with the impact of the floods in 2011, the plant was able to continue working efficiently as only one of over 1,000 tests conducted during the year did not pass City manager Jim Puffalt said during the meeting.
In his report, plant manager Kevin Sutter said the biggest event that effected operations was the flooding which basically started in April and did not clear up until July. Sutter noted he and his staff were also called on to deal with hydraulic issues throughout the flooding which required them to modify several components.
Another challenge proved to be the rapidly changing water quality which was also a by-product of the floods.
"During the event, we met the water quality parameters to keep the facility open," Sutter said in his report. "Many divisions within the City and outside agencies worked with us securing our site and transporting personnel and supplies to keep the system operational. I wish to thank everyone on behalf of the City for their valuable efforts."
Sutter added another area of concern was that the plant's average total trihalomethanes are above the maximum acceptable concentration set by the Ministry of Environment for 2011.
"The Environmental Protection Officer did indicate that the levels were down and very close to the MAC but we will have to do something to insure that we can consistently be below the limit of 100 parts per billion," said Sutter who will be providing a report on options to council in 2012.
Other points of note were the start of construction on a new reservoir in 2011 which will improve water pressure for the north end of Estevan. Actual work on the project will begin this year and the facility is expected to go online in 2013.
The waterline replacement program also continued in 2011 and will be back in 2012. Sutter said once the north side of the city has been completed, they will concentrate on the south.
"It should be noted that the replacement of the old cast iron lines not only reduces the number of breaks, it also improves water quality and flow throughout the distribution system."
