Regional waterline 98 per cent done

The Regional Waterline is nearing completion, and should be operational just as soon as a troublesome leak is found and patched.

“There’s a leak somewhere around Muriel Creek that’s giving us some trouble,” said Bonnyville Water Commission Manager Mark Power.

“We’re about 98 per cent finished with the project, so once we’re able to find this leak and get it sorted, we’ll be ready to start turning the taps on.”

The leak is preventing the pipeline from passing a pressurization test, which is key to making it operational. According to Power, it’s located somewhere within a two mile stretch of the pipeline.

An acoustics company has been hired to locate the leak and will get to work soon.

Because of the large search area, Power was unable to give a concrete date for when water from Cold Lake water will come out of a Bonnyville resident’s tap, but the timeframe from when the leak is found to when it can be brought into commission would be about three to four weeks.

“The pipeline between the Cold Lake water plant and the Bonnyville reservoir is built and ready to use, it just comes down to finding and plugging this leak,” said Power.

Earlier in August, the town was reporting that the waterline would be operational by the end of September, a delay of a month from the original schedule due to high water levels along Beaver River, which rose 2.5 meters this year as a result of heavy rainfall.

In an earlier report in late August on the waterline’s progress, mayor Gene Sobolewski explained what changes residents could expect once the new water arrived.

“We’re going from chlorinated water to chloraminated water. What that means is that chloraminated has a little bit of ammonia in it.”

“So those folks need to be notified and that the entire town has to be flushed, you don’t want to mix the two waters.”

Residents will be notified once the waterline has passed its pressure test and is ready to be connected to Bonnyville’s system.