Water is again flowing through underground caverns near Vanscoy, Sask., after the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority granted approval to restart a TransGas project March 16.
Nolan Shaheen, the authority’s director of ground water management, said TransGas resumed pumping March 18 after receiving an amended licence to flush out caverns intended for future natural gas storage.
It will pump 6.4 million litres of water daily, the same volume of water as before a planned shutdown three months ago, but it must maintain a minimum water level for the Tessier aquifer.
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“We are limiting their drawdown; if they approach that level they would have to adjust their pumping,” Shaheen said.
The Grandora and area water committee blamed the project for significant changes in local water quality and levels, with some wells dropping as much as 20 metres since pumping began last August.
Marj Stevens, secretary of the committee, said water levels at source wells had dropped within days of the project’s restart.
“This is very discouraging,” she said.
On March 24, the committee filed an application in Court of Queen’s Bench for an injunction against TransGas, the watershed authority and the provincial minister of the environment.
The project shut down for three months this winter to allow time for an independent review of local residents’ concerns.
That review 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 TransGas permit runs until 2008, with 50 percent of the project completed to date.
