The City of Weyburn upgraded to the use of chloramines to treat Weyburn's water earlier this month, and so far they've had no complaints.

This according to the Superintendent of the Water Treatment Plant, Shabbir Sakrani.

"It was very hard for us, we've been testing every half an hour, and so far the water quality is very good," he noted.

He said they are expecting the Water Security Agency to conduct an inspection this week.

Currently, he shared, Weyburn's water is safe at 99.9999 percent. This is compared to Regina's which is 99.9.

"We are better than Regina, I can prove this through a third-party lab in Regina that tests the water," Sakrani said. 

The difference is in part due to the UV filtration we have here, which deactivates any bacteria, and which is not part of Regina's system.

"It is almost 100 percent guaranteed that our water does not have any bacteria or viruses, or water-borne disease viruses. Nothing. Zero."

He said his staff is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

"We work until midnight, and we are testing every four hours. You can imagine, it's a lot of work. The City of Weyburn is doing many things beyond our department to operate, to catch the problems, to improve the quality of the water," he shared.

For those who feel like they still need to take their water purification into their own hands, Sakrani advises caution:

"It's their personal preferences, but as an expert, I would say reverse osmosis and other water processes they have, that is not good for their health, because you are taking all the minerals required for the body," he explained.

"I'm not a doctor, but my water contains the minimum values of the calcium, magnesium, iron, and other things you need for your daily intake. People not having all the proper information are installing reverse osmosis systems, which actually take all the minerals required for your body, and it's free. If you drink my water, five litres a day, at least you are getting all your daily intake of calcium and magnesium. It's free. You don't need to take supplements."

He added, "As an expert, if I'm drinking bottled water or reverse osmosis water, it means there's something wrong with my water."

Sakrani noted he has been drinking his tap water for 12 years since coming to Weyburn.

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