Normal water use resumed at 10 p.m. and any water restrictions have been lifted.

The city of Saskatoon is asking all Saskatoon residents to please restrict your water usage to essential usage only.

Due to large amounts of sand from the river making its way to the primary intake of the Water Treatment Plant, the water intake is blocked.  City officials are not entirely sure what caused the sand to enter the intakes and notes that the last time it happened there were high flows in the river, however, that is not the case this time.

The Water Treatment Plant is switching to the backup intake on site. This change is more effective at lower flow rates and that is why they are asking residents and businesses to limit water use. The City of Saskatoon is hopeful it will take about six hours to resolve the situation. The City says they need citizens to reduce water usage in order to get the situation rectified in that six hour time line.  If usage is too high, they may need to reduce water pressure but stress that it will not effect water quality.

When full plant capacity resumes, the City of Saskatoon will notify residents.

Examples of essential use:

Cooking

Hand washing

Keeping surfaces clean

Washing dishes

Examples of Non-essential use:

Bathing

Washing vehicles

Flooding rinks

Several loads of laundry