Water tests, oil clean up continue on North Saskatchewan River

Water samples are still be collected from the North Saskatchewan River as the shoreline clean-up from the oil spill continues.
 
So far six kilometres of shoreline has been full cleaned and complete.
 
That work is often manual with rakes and shovels used.
 
Samples of sand and soil and collected and the pollutant discarded as waste.
 
“All of the material is collected and eventually the oil is analysed and extracted off the material,” explained Dr. Kevin McCullum, with the Ministry of Environment. “That’s part of the whole assessment as we go forward, but it is collected and removed off site.”
 
Shoreline washing has taken place and complete starting from the spill site downstream twelve kilometres and that work continues.
 
At last count it has been confirmed that 71 wildlife have died as a result of the oil spill with eight remaining in recovery.
 
At the height of the spill, 69,000 Saskatchewan residents had their water supply impacted by this incident, but things have improved.
 
In North Battleford, a temporary water line between the city and the town of Battleford is in place with testing of the water flowing underway and should be online by Sunday or Monday.
 
Water restrictions have eased in Prince Albert, with some business, like car washes and laundromats, operational again.
 
Storms continue to add to government headaches this summer but it has been confirmed that no damage has been reported as a result of tornadoes or flooding in the past 24-hours.