{"id":353453,"date":"2025-12-18T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/353453\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T14:51:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:51:12","slug":"saskatchewan-town-remains-without-drinking-water-with-restoration-date-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/353453\/","title":{"rendered":"Saskatchewan town remains without drinking water with restoration date unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Outlook, Sask.\u2019s top officials says it\u2019s \u201cvery difficult to say\u201d when residents will have access to drinking water<\/a> following the tampering of one of its reservoirs<\/a> on Monday, but it won\u2019t be before the end of the week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kevin Trew, chief administrative officer for the town, told Global News that there are still several steps to complete before drinking water will be available again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings have been going a lot smoother there with the distribution (system) than they actually have for a couple days,\u201d Trew said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re meeting targets and trying to get to the levels we need to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

A local state of emergency that was issued this week also remains in effect until Friday. The \u201cdo not use\u201d order that was issued Monday morning will remain in effect until Saskatchewan\u2019s Water Security Agency (WSA) deems the supply completely safe.<\/p>\n

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The shutdown leaves roughly 2,300 people in the town without water, along with others in some nearby communities that draw from Outlook\u2019s supply.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the town advised that crews have been flushing hydrants since 3 a.m., noting the distribution system is fully pressurized. With hydrants open, though, water pressure could be affected.<\/p>\n

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Trew said with the water distribution system turned back on, residents should be able to now flush their toilets again but are advised to continue to not use water for showers, washing dishes or drinking.<\/p>\n

The order will remain in place until certain parameters are met to allow them to move to a \u201cdo not consume\u201d order, Trew said. Under this advisory, people would be able to use their water for things like a shower, however people would still be advised not to drink the water or use it for washing dishes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe reservoir hatch that was tampered with in Outlook, Sask. sits open as it\u2019s inspected by officials. The hatch was not found wide open as pictured when the tampering occurred.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTown of Outlook, Sask.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He said it is unknown how long this advisory would remain in place, but once the WSA deems it safe, the town could then move to a \u201cprecautionary drinking water advisory\u201d (PDWA).<\/p>\n

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Under a PDWA, residents could finally begin drinking the water if it\u2019s boiled first, as well as using it for brushing their teeth and for washing small children. Once enacted, he said, this advisory would remain in place for at least three days.<\/p>\n

The \u201cdo not use\u201d advisory was issued, according to WSA CEO Shawn Jaques, because officials cannot simply test the reservoir water to ensure safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make sure that the water supply for residents is safe, the protocol is that the reservoirs are drained and then they\u2019re cleaned and then refilled and retested to make sure the water is safe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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The whole incident began when officials determined a hatch to one of its reservoirs had been tampered with, which also prompted Saskatchewan RCMP to launch an investigation into what happened.<\/p>\n

RCMP said they had received a report of mischief at about 2 p.m. on Dec. 15 at the water facility on Railway Avenue and determined an unknown person or people broke a lock to the treated reservoir early Monday.<\/p>\n

Police said their probe is ongoing but it has not been determined whether the suspect or suspects entered the outbuilding or if anything was stolen or tampered with.<\/p>\n

The WSA is advising residents that during the current \u201cdo not use\u201d order, residents should avoid trying to treat the water in addition to not using it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBoiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letting the water stand will not make the water supply is determined to be completely safe,\u201d the WSA said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Outlook, Sask.\u2019s top officials says it\u2019s \u201cvery difficult to say\u201d when residents will have access to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,38572,295,84,66,153203],"class_list":["post-353453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-drinking-water","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-science","tag-water-advisory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}