Canoe Lake water supply back on

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Clean water is once again running through the taps on Canoe Lake Cree Nation.

The community's water supply was shut down on April 3 when the system operator noticed sewage from the sewage lift station was backing up into the water treatment plant.

According to Noreen Kotowich, senior communications officer with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada's Saskatchewan region, the problem occurred when heavy spring run-off in the area caused one of the pumps in the sewage lift station to malfunction. With the pump out of commission the station wasn't able to handle the amount of sewage coming through it, causing a sewage backup that entered into the nearby water treatment plant.

Kotowich credits the quick thinking of the system operator with preventing any health problems resulting from contamination of the water supply.

"He really did a really good thing there in the sense of avoiding any kind of tragedy because there was no water coming out of anywhere. He shut it down," she said.

The malfunctioning pump has now been replaced and the system is up and running again. A boil water advisory issued on April 4 was lifted April 13.