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Issue 5
SERVING THE ENERGY CITY SINCE 1903
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
www.estevanmercury.ca
Mailing No. 10769 | Publication No. 40069240
Transmission line break left some residents in Estevan without water breaks are rare. He believes it occurred due to a water hammer or some other shifting in the soil. “It caused a lateral crack along the 14-inch … pipe, which depressurized the area, causing the water to spill out,” said Sutter. Nobody who resides north of Perkins Street lost water service, he said, but they likely had lower water pressure for about 30 minutes on May 31. Sutter said they couldn’t give advanced notice to those who reside south of Perkins Street about turning the water off, because they needed to isolate the problem right away. Four city employees distributed shutoff notices once the water was turned off. Once they located the site of the break, the city crews went to work. “It was decided we must get water up to that subdivision as soon as possible,” said Sutter. “We had temporary clamps on that night. The crew had water established back in
By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
Residents who live south of Perkins Street were without water for a significant period of time last week, thanks to a transmission line break. Kevin Sutter, who manages the city’s water and wastewater divisions, said the break was detected just before noon on May 31. It resulted in a decrease in water pressure. “It was a significant break, because it’s on a fairly large line, one of our largest lines,” said Sutter. “It was a long break. The amount of water that was spilling caused a systemwide pressure drop, which was flagged at the water plant immediately.” City of Estevan crews were dispatched immediately. The leak was contained, and the water was shut off for those who live south of Perkins Street. Sutter said the transmission line that broke is a 14-inch asbestos cement pipe, and he stressed such
A transmission line break knocked out water service to residents who live south of Perkins Street, and forced the closure of part of the street last week. the Hillcrest area by 1 a.m. Thursday morning (June 1).” The water remained on until that afternoon, when they had the parts to make permanent repairs to the transmission line. “Water was shut off from about 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday,” said Sutter. Perkins Street from Rooks Road to Fourth Avenue South was closed from just after 1 p.m. on
May 31 until about 4 p.m. on June 2. Among the areas that lost water service were Hillcrest School and the Hillcrest Early Learning Centre. Due to the sudden nature of the break, the city couldn’t give the two education centres advanced notice of the shutdown. “The next day, when we had a planned outage to do the permanent repairs, we brought in a temporary
water supply so that those facilities could remain open on Thursday,” said Sutter. The people who were affected by the outage handled the situation well, he said. It’s a hardship to go without water, and people often don’t realize how much they depend on water service until they don’t have it. The city has sent out notices to those south of Perkins Street that the wa-
ter should not be drank until samples are sent to the provincial lab to ensure there wasn’t a contamination. People were asked to boil water before consuming it, or find an alternative drinking water source until the tests come back. “We can’t do those bacteriological samples past noon on Thursdays, because the labs are closed,” said Sutter. REPAIR ⇢A2
Sun Country board passes its budget Wages and benefits account for about 70 per cent of the expenses. John Knoch, who is the acting president and CEO, noted wages and benefits have now exceeded the $100 million mark in the health region. Other areas that account for significant expenses include repairs and maintenance at facilities, utilities, food, and medical and surgical supplies. The provincial government’s grant is responsible for about 90 per cent of revenues. The remaining revenues come from fees for residents rent in long-term care facilities, as well as fees for home care, ambulance transportation and other services. The document has been submitted to the Sas-
By David Willberg dwillberg@estevanmercury.ca
The Sun Country Regional Health Authority (SCRHA) has approved what will likely be its final budget. The authority ratified the document at their regular meeting on May 31. Even though the SCRHA is slated to be amalgamated into the provincewide Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) before the end of the year, the budget is for the entire 2017-18 fiscal year. Expenses are budgeted to be $157.5 million. Following mortgage and lease payments of $608,000, Sun Country is expecting to end the fiscal year in a breakeven position.
katchewan Ministry of Health for approval. A total of 11 positions have been eliminated. The bulk of those jobs were already vacant and won’t be filled. Included in the total were two senior management positions, two parttime administration roles, two temporary jobs in the Weyburn food services division, one director position in maintenance, one refrigerator mechanic job, one health information role, one part-time human resources job and one parttime medical training job. The two food services jobs were the only ones that were staffed, he said. The people in those jobs were displaced and Knoch said they have picked up extra casual hours. The capital budget in-
cludes $1.325 million for 2017-18, with $305,000 for new or replacement equipment, and $1.02 million for facility renovations and upgrades. Knoch noted the
health region always allocates a portion of its capital funding for St. Joseph’s Hospital. This year’s budget includes in $164,000 in capital funding for St. Joseph’s, which
will allow for a portion of the roof to be repaired. “We’ll continue to try to upgrade our buildings throughout Sun Country,” said Knoch. ST. JOSEPH’S ⇢A2
Bienfait receives funding The Town of Bienfait has received support from the federal and provincial governments for its new wastewater treatment system. The federal government will supply $1,430,500 in support, while the provincial government will provide $715,250. The money is coming through the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund. The town will come up with the remaining $715,250 for the project, which has a total
projected cost of $2,861,000. “We’re very fortunate to have the funding,” said Bienfait Mayor Paul Carroll. As part of the project, the town’s waste water treatment centre lagoons will be relocated further away from the community, and a new pipeline will be constructed. The lagoons are currently located south of the Canadian National Railway tracks and the town’s arena. The new lagoons will
be further south of the community. “We have a piece of land in there, and we’ll probably try to get as far south on our land as humanly possible, without creating any environmental problems, or coming close to anybody else’s land,” said Carroll. An engineering firm has been engaged to plan and manage the project for the town. WORK ⇢A2
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