By Andrew de Souza

Province approves city flushing plan

Feb 27, 2012 | 4:54 PM

The city is able to move forward and flush its water distribution system once it has finished cleaning its reservoirs, now that the ministry of environment has approved the city’s plan for the procedure.

The city said in a press release that the province has approved its plan to flush the system of possible contaminants. The city said they’ll be able to do so once the preparation work is completed.

That work will conclude in the next few days once divers complete the cleaning of the reservoirs on Second Avenue West and Marquis Road.

City manager Robert Cotterill said that even with the plan’s approval there won’t be any definite time line on the project for several reasons.

“Now that we have a better understanding of what they expect from us, we are trying to put a time to it now,” he said.

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

15h ago

WORLD SOFTBALL

Group stages officially set for Men's Softball World Cup in P.A.

22h ago

Safety first

Safety concerns and tips surrounding discarded needles in P.A.

Apr 23, 2024

The first reason, Cotterill said, was the complexity of the situation.

“We have 210 dead-ended lines in the system,” Cotterill said. “It could take you 15 minutes to do one; it could take you an hour. It’s hard to tell because you don’t know.”

He said it’s impossible to know how long flushing would take once it starts because it requires opening the lines and letting them run until the water comes out at an acceptable turbidity and chlorine levels.

Cotterill said the second complication would be the sheer amount of water that is needed to flush the system.

“That’s the other component in all this—you’ve got to throw away water,” he said. Adding the city only made enough in one day to flush the system for a few hours at a time, so it would require several days of work.

In the meantime, Cotterill said the city would be working with the province to make any necessary tweaks to the flushing plan before it will be implemented, and can start once all cleaning is done.

adesouza@panow.com