Water advisory expected to last until mid-July
The precautionary drinking water advisory in Meadow Lake isn’t going away anytime soon, but the water quality seems to be improving.
The advisory was put into place for the city and Flying Dust First Nation May 11 under advisement from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. The water coming from the city’s main water source Meadow River has had a high level of turbidity, which is a lack of clarity or brilliance in water. Recent testing showed improvement in the water’s turbidity, with levels measured at 0.32 Nephelometric Turbidity Units, just slightly above the regulatory standard of 0.30.
For the advisory to be lifted, the levels need to be under 0.20 units for at least 24 hours, according to city manager Diana Burton.
“After we reach that threshold we will need to flush the hydrants at key points in the city in order to replace the water in our system,” she said. “Then we’ll need to clean out both our reservoirs and clear wells, which is expected to take two to 10 days. We expect at this point the [advisory] will be in place at least until mid-July if the water quality continues to improve.”