The Saskatchewan Watershed Authority will discuss setting minimum water levels as a safety mechanism when it meets with Grandora-area residents this week about re-activating a TransGas project.
“Below that, Trans Gas would have to adjust its pumping rate to ensure it doesn’t draw water below a certain point,” said Nolan Shaheen, director of ground water management with the watershed authority.
The authority will meet with local residents and TransGas this week before pumping restarts to flush underground caverns to prepare them for gas storage.
The authority has not decided on a start-up date for the project, which was temporarily shut down Dec. 13 to review local concerns about deteriorating water quality and lowered well water levels.
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An independent review by the Saskatchewan Research Council found no connection between the project and water contamination, but did note water levels dropped more than expected in the Tessier aquifer in the Grandora area.
“The reports concluded from a technical perspective the project can proceed but from a water management perspective, there are impacts on some wells that could not have been reasonably anticipated,” Shaheen said.
Grandora area resident Pat Gittings feared TransGas will be allowed to pump at the same rate, approximately 1,200 US gallons a minute.
Gittings was told to expect a 10-metre drop in water levels, but found her artesian well stopped flowing when levels dropped by 15 metres within a few months of the project starting last year.
“It should be sustainable,” she said of the project, noting pumping should be regulated to the recharge levels of the aquifer.
Monitoring of area service wells has seen water levels return only to 56 percent of normal since the pumping stopped, said Marj Stevens of the Grandora and area water committee. She said residents were told the recharge would be as much as 80 percent.
The committee, which plans public meetings this week, hopes to get a court injunction to keep TransGas from its underground pumping. It first wants to know the rate the company will pump at, said Stevens, who feels TransGas is pumping too much water too quickly.
The committee also wants all private wells affected by drops in water levels serviced promptly.
