P.A. sees spike in demand for bottled water

Local stores in Prince Albert are working hard to stock up on water to meet demand.

Amanda Larsen, assistant manager at Giant Tiger, said the store currently has a water machine to service big refillable jugs.

“There has been line ups halfway through our store waiting to fill jugs. We’ve had customers leave them behind overnight and our night crew fill them up and they come pick it up in the morning,” she said.

“We have ordered lots of pallets of bottled water. We should be getting pallets of water tomorrow for sure on the truck.”

Larsen said there are plans to keep ordering from a water machine company, which will send full jugs to be put on shelves during the water shortage.

Even though Walmart has seven skids of water at the store, assistant manager Nancy Dery said they need more and work is in place to get it as soon as possible.

“We have lots of people buying water. It’s selling well and fast,” she said. “We will try everything we can in order to get more water…we are ready to take as many as we can have.”

The general manager of the Prince Albert Co-op, Dean McKim, said the store will continue to work towards meeting customers’ demands.

“We’ve had to work with our wholesale to bring in semi-loads of (bottled) water over the weekend just to keep up with the demand,” he said.

Monday, the City of Prince Albert shut off intake at the water treatment centre from the North Saskatchewan River.

On July 21, roughly 200,000 to 250,000 litres of heavy oil mixed with diluent escaped from a Husky Energy pipeline east of Lloydminster near the Highway 21 bridge.

River water off limits during clean up

Provincial officials are telling people to limit recreational activities in the North Saskatchewan River after the oil spill.

People are advised not to consume fish caught in the river, or allow pets and livestock in the water.

Swimming, water sports and other activities where people come in direct contact with the water are also not advised.

The province said boating and catch-and-release fishing should not pose a threat to personal health.

— With files from CKOM News