An uncontained oil spill has forced Prince Albert, Sask., to stop drawing water from the North Saskatchewan River and warn residents that its reservoir could run out by mid-week.
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Work was already underway to lay out a temporary pipeline stretching upwards of 30 kilometres to draw water from the South Saskatchewan River, should the water emergency continue for a much longer period.
Sam Ferris says it won’t be a short-term event for the affected communities.
The Saskatoon Star-Phoenix has reported that Husky’s chief operations officer, Rob Peabody, has confirmed the leak was not under river water and that some of the spilled oil was on land.
Prince Albert, a city of about 35 thousand people, northeast of Saskatoon, gets most of its water from the river, and city staff was said to be on stand-by to shut off intakes. The city issued a news release telling people that vehicle washes were being shut down, laundromats closed and citizens were being asked not to water their lawns or wash their cars. It has said it has alternatives ways to move oil and expects “minimal impact”.
The Saskatchewan government said Friday that new steps are being taken. “The heavy oil that is there has very few toxic components which are water-soluble”.
Kotyk said the federal environment agency is working on a “trajectory model” to determine the exact size and rate of movement of the oil plume, which officials don’t yet know.
“We haven’t have a spill like this, so we’re not sure”, he said.
The company said late on Thursday it shut and isolated a pipeline on its Saskatchewan Gathering System, after roughly 200,000 to 250,000 liters of heavy oil and diluent spilled from the line, running into the North Saskatchewan River. The city also has use of a secondary pond, which could give the city a water supply until the end of the week.
Prince Albert city council is also holding a special meeting Monday to discuss major water restrictions, including no watering of lawns, golf courses and shutting down water parks.
“If we have a pipeline spill, we address the pipeline spill”, Ghosh said on the conference call Friday.
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“Even with this spill it remains the case that absolutely the safest way to transport oil and gas is by way of pipeline”, she said. “We don’t want anyone thinking this doesn’t apply to them”.
