In this tank at the Weyburn Water Treatment Plant, alum and lime are added to neutralize particles. Clear water rises to the top and particles settle to the bottom.

In response to the latest precautionary drinking water advisory (PDWA) issued for Weyburn, the City has committed to investigate the problem and prevent any recurrences.

"When I heard about this PDWA, the first question on my mind was the same one I'm sure everyone is asking, 'Why is this happening again?' This situation is not acceptable and I intend to get to the bottom of it," says Mayor Debra Button. 'We will be hiring the best expert advice available to analyze the current water problem and make sure it doesn't happen again."

The City is hiring ATAP Consulting and Associated Engineering to do a thorough investigation into the city's water system. Both firms have extensive experience with municipal water systems around Saskatchewan.

Director of Engineering for the City Rene Richard says the City retrofitted some new under drains into their Plant 200, which took about six months and a $450,000 construction value. He says there is also a lot of new equipment at the water treatment plant, like metres and alarm equipment, that they are still trying to work the kinks out of. He says the higher than normal turbidity levels may have been caused by the upgrades, along with other factors.

"Anytime turbidity gets higher than regulation, there's a chance that cryptosporidium and giardia can survive," says Richard. "Turbidity can be caused by no matter what, so when turbidity becomes increased taht's when they require the additional testing. Normally, we wouldn't do cryptosporidium/giardia tests, I don't think it's ever been done in our distribution system, ever. So, we really don't have anything to compare against, but a couple of cysts did show up on the tests so that can mean a lot of different things but we do need to take precautions and make sure the public is safe. That's why the boil order is in affect."

Richard added that the precautionary advisory on now, which suggests residents boil all water for consumption for at least one minute, has nothing to do with last summer's water advisory due to the flood.

"The advisory that was on last summer was due to the fact that we were discharging raw sewage into our drinking supply and the precautionary order was just that, it was an automatic protocol thing until we could do some tests. Nothing ever showed up and this is 100 per cent not related to that in any way."

The City has also been in touch with regional health authorities, who so far have not reported any unusual effects from the water issues.


Water holding tank

The last filter before Weyburn's water is distributed to residents.