Prince Albert's boil-water order may end sooner

A boil-water order that has inconvenienced thousands of people in Prince Albert may be lifted sooner than expected, officials say.

Some 40,000 residents of the city and surrounding area have been living under aboil-water orderaftera faulty valve at the water treatment plant led to contamination of the supply onFeb. 3. Initially a boil-water advisory was issued, but when tests confirmed the presence of harmful contaminants in the water, the advisory was upgraded to an order Feb. 7.

Robert Cotterill, the city manager, said Tuesday that work to flush out the contaminated water from the piping system went better than expected.

Testing must still be done to ensure the water is safe.

Cotterill added there was other work to do, to ensure a clean water supply from the treatment plant.

"The main component of it is the clarifiers," Cotterill explained, in reference to a key element of the treatment plant that required more work. "We need to have that completed before the ice breakup. And if it breaks up before we're completed, we can have this problem again."

If everything works out, however, the boil water order may be ended as soon as Friday.

Cotterill said a previous estimate, which said theboil water order could extend until the end of March, was a cautious estimate.

"You learn from your mistakes about being optimistic versus pessimistic," Cotterill said. "We work in an environment that many things can go wrong, and so we did not want to say we could do it in two weeks and then have problems."

The boil water order, which comes from the local health authority, says any water used for consumption, or that comes into contact with food, should be boiled.