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Saskatoon
was incorporated as a village in 1901, and the next few years
brought a rush of settlers into the district. By 1906, the
population had reached 5,000 and Saskatoon became a city.
The City's first combined water treatment and power plant
was built in 1911.
Through its 45 waterworks employees,
many of who are members of CUPE local 47, the City's water
treatment plant today serves over 212,000 people. The City
also supplies treated water to the Saskatchewan Water Corporation,
which through its water distribution system, provides drinking
water to rural areas within a 60 km radius of Saskatoon.
The City's water treatment plant
produces an estimated 50 million cubic metres of water annually.
Water chemists, technologists, and treatment plant operators
conduct over 51,000 water quality tests at the plant and a
further 5,000 tests throughout the water distribution system
to ensure that treated water quality is never compromised.
Saskatoon's commitment to public safety and high-quality drinking
water is based on two key components: well-trained people
and the use of the latest technology. Staff go through continuous
training and development programs.
A full-time training coordinator
in the water and wastewater treatment branch helps ensure
that engineers, plant operators and technologists, trades,
and building maintenance personnel know their jobs, do them
well, and receive periodic training upgrades to keep abreast
of changing conditions and technology. The recent provincial
requirement for mandatory operator certification poses no
difficulty for the City water operation, which aims to have
its operators, tested and certified to a Class 4 standard,
the highest!
That same attitude of thoroughness
applies to the City's investment in water treatment equipment.
In addition to the more conventional water treatment processes
that most municipal water works utilize, the Saskatoon system
also uses numerous online monitoring devices including turbidity
meters (to measure the degree of clarity in the water), particle
counters (they measure the effectiveness of the removal of
particles in the size range of Cryptosporidium and Giardia,
which are water-borne diseases), and other equipment to monitor
pH, chlorine, fluoride, temperature, pressures, and flows.
The City has also undertaken a study to determine the best
approach to introduce ultra violet light as an additional
barrier in its multiple-barrier defence approach to water
treatment and water quality protection.
It takes three to four hours to
process water drawn from the South Saskatchewan River before
that water enters the City's water distribution system. During
that period a lot of science, technology, and expertise are
applied to ensure the customer always receives a quality product. |
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