Prince Albert's water woes have hit the two week mark. The city is still under an emergency boil water order, and it's taking its toll on everything from schools to pools.
One group that's feeling the strain of the water situation is the Sharks swim team. With the temporary closure of the Frank Dunn Pool, the team has had to find other places to train.
Shannon Hurl is president of the Prince Albert Sharks. She says it's the loss of their pool has hit the team hard. "It's been a little chaotic, and far from ideal. The kids are driving to Saskatoon four times a week."
While the Sharks are able to continue practicing they won't be able to host the upcoming provincial championship. That means more travelling and a loss of revenue. "We were supposed to host the provincial A swim meet and junior cup the first week in March, we lost that meet, which last year got us $5000 in revenue," says Hurl.
Schools are also being affected by the water advisory. Drinking fountains are shut off in all schools leaving the Sask. Rivers School Division to cover the costs of providing safe drinking water.
Robert Bratvold is the school division's director. He says the cost of bringing in water is adding up.
"We've had to do fairly significant adjustments in providing drinking water, so we have had bottled water supplied to the schools through our mail delivery."
Bratvold says that while the boil water order is causing a burden, he understands that they need to do what they can to keep students safe. "We don't get any additional money, so it all comes out of the budget somewhere. There are some significant costs, but it's just one of those sorts of events that you have to deal with as they come up."
If there is a silver lining for the businesses that are affected, it's that the city has begun cleaning the reservoirs, and that the boil water order could potentially be lifted in two to three weeks.
