Provincewide alert sent in error, Maple Creek official says

A drinking water advisory for the southwestern Saskatchewan community of Maple Creek wasn’t meant to be sent out across the entire province.

According to an official with the town, the emergency alert was unintentionally sent to mobile phones across Saskatchewan on Tuesday afternoon. The alert was intended only for residents of the town and the nearby areas.

SaskAlert, the provincial alert system, carried the initial alert for just over an hour on its website before it was cancelled and removed, then replaced by a local version.

But while the alert wasn’t meant to be broadcast across the entire province, the town official said the drinking water advisory for the community remains in place.

According to the town spokesperson, the advisory was issued due to a depressurization of the town’s water system following a water main break.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, which oversees SaskAlert, said the alert system grants local authorities the ability to send out alerts over the system.

“Participation in SaskAlert gives jurisdictions the ability to issue alerts about local emergency events to their residents, visitors and anyone passing through their area,” an agency spokesperson said in an email to 650 CKOM.