The Village of Plunkett has been under a precautionary drinking water advisory for the past three years. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Unsafe water

‘It’s just not safe anymore’: Village of Plunkett raising funds to install reverse osmosis water system

Mar 10, 2020 | 5:00 PM

The community of Plunkett will continue fundraising efforts for a reverse osmosis system with an event on Friday.

The village of around 40 households and 60 residents has been under a precautionary drinking water advisory (PDWA) full-time for almost three years, and on and off advisories for about five years.

Lyle Phillips is on village council and helped put together applications for government funding for water treatment equipment since 2014. All applications were denied.

“Our water source is ground water and we have elevated ammonia and the filter system is just not working and we can’t add enough chlorine to maintain good quality to eliminate ammonia,” Phillips told northeastNOW.

The sand filters are not cleaning the water, or purifying it well enough. The water is discoloured, Phillips said.

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Council has weighed the costs of other filter systems but the reverse osmosis is definitely a necessary direction. The system would be installed village-wide and carries a $120,000 price tag.

“Based on government grants that are available, our portion would be about 30 per cent and we are close to having our portion,” Phillips said.

Council is compiling an application to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP), once again hoping to attain government assistance that has not been granted over the past few years.

Applications need to be submitted by March 31 and council hopes to hear a decision from the federal and provincial government on that by May 1.

“I was hoping to see a bit more support for the smaller communities in this process. I did send a letter to our MP and hoping to speak with our MLA,” Phillips said. “It just seems like a lot of the smaller communities are being missed.”

Until some support is shown, the fundraising efforts will continue around the community and Phillips said they have also been working with the Water Security Agency as well.

“If we are forced to replace it ourselves then we will have to internally do all of the financing and then those costs have to be passed on and then the households will end up paying,” Phillips said.

The Water Security Agency last updated the advisory on their website on June 24, 2019. The WSA stated there were elevated turbidity levels in the water distribution system.

NortheastNOW reached out to the WSA to find out how many communities in rural Saskatchewan might be faced with the same water issues but those calls have not been returned.

Fundraising

A committee was formed to ensure that if the application to the ICIP is accepted, the village will have their portion already set aside.

Della Dukart, is a resident of Plunkett and also sits on the water treatment fundraising committee board. She said they are organizing an irish stew supper on Friday, March 13 as part of their fundraising efforts.

A progressive 50/50 draw will also be made at the stew supper event.

“If we sell all 2,500 tickets, the pot will be up to $2,500 for the winner and the other $2,500 goes to our cause,” Dukart said.

About half of the tickets have been sold so far.

The night will also feature an old fashioned variety night, silent auction, and guessing games. The event includes a bowl of stew and fixings for $5 a person.

A car show was hosted back in June as well, with the funds brought in also going toward the reverse osmosis system.

Resident concerns

Dukart has been living in the community southwest of Humboldt for five years now and is very frustrated with the lack of support with the water treatment plant.

“It makes you think they (government) just aren’t worried about us. Millions gets put into bigger places but in these smaller places we have to look after ourselves,” Dukart said. “Do they want us all to live in Saskatoon or Regina? Without these smaller places, you have absolutely nothing along roadways when you’re travelling. It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Being under a water advisory for most of the time that she has lived there has become quite exhausting.

“You just can’t trust the water in your home, so it’s haul water around or I guess get your own under the counter reverse osmosis system but that’s quite costly if each resident has to do that,” Dukart said.

According to the WSA precautionary drinking water advisory, “under most circumstances. there is no need to boil water for other household purposes,” but Dukart said in her home there are some days where the water is extremely discolored and can even appear black.

“How do you do laundry and how do you shower, and my thoughts go out to anyone that needs to bathe their babies and children. It’s just not safe anymore for us to have this quality of water,” Dukart said.

She wanted to help with raising funds as a committee and community so the effects aren’t felt so hard by each individual household in Plunkett.

Plain and simple, she feels everyone deserves to have clean and safe water.

“We want to grow our village and keep it strong and viable and the only way to do that is to get our infrastructure upgraded so that it is a good quality of life for anyone that wants to move here,” Dukart said.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser