'It gets kind of gross': Residents in downtown building left frustrated without water

Residents of an apartment in downtown Saskatoon were left without water this weekend, and they're frustrated about the whole process.

Residents at Carlton Tower, a high rise on 5th Avenue North, have been filling any containers they have from a city-provided emergency water supply trailer after waking up to no water Saturday, but many in the tower are taking issue with the city providing no notice.

“It gets kind of gross. plus, you know, you can't shower. That's the big one, but it's just very inconvenient,” Sydney Buzash, told CTV News.

Notices were given to residents and posted in the entry of the building, saying work is being done on the roadway in front. The notice specifically said water shouldn’t be affected, but then the water was shut off, which the city says was due to some unforeseen circumstances.

The city said a second notice saying water would be turned off in a “same day” service. Water service briefly came back Saturday, but was quickly disrupted and continued through to Monday.

“As the construction notices were issued in advance, they did not include information about the water outage as it was not anticipated," the city's construction and design department said in an email to CTV News.  

Buzash says communication was confusing.

“Whereas, if it was just clear that the water would be off at the beginning, we could put water in our tub and then had that for some stuff and prepped a bit,” Buzash said.

Cecil Beaudet has lived in the building with his wife for four years and the inconvenience is weighing on them.

"Not being able to flush the toilet is the biggest issue, and if you have two people it's not so bad. If you have a family, like two parents and two kids, that’s a lot of wastewater,” he said.

“If you know that construction is going to take three days, and one of those days will be a Sunday where no one will be doing anything, maybe don't start it on a Friday,” she said.

The city confirmed that staff was out for a short time on Sunday.

The building is managed by Boardwalk and they told CTV News in an email, that since the work is being done by the city, they have no more information for residents.

While the hundreds of people who live in this 22 floor building wait for word on the situation, the city says when water service resumes residents should boil their water until they receive a green tag on their door.