Construction prompted concerns | Landowners worried that activity would affect the quality of their well water
Lorraine Beaudette had a few questions when a construction crew started digging on land neigh-bouring a PotashCorp facility west of Saskatoon last month.
Concerned about how the project south of the Cory mine might affect her water supply, Beaudette started making phone calls to the company and the Rural Municipality of Corman Park.
“It’s a huge project. It’s taking place over more than a mile,” she said.
Beaudette’s family cares for horses, chickens and gardens on an 80-acre parcel of land. She said they and their neighbours depend on water pulled from an underground aquifer.
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Ken Hobbs, administration superintendent with the facility, which owns the land, said he’s heard from several residents who have similar concerns.
He assures them the installation of a “ground water return system” won’t affect their well water.
“We’re not tapping into any wells underneath at all,” he said, adding the company has consulted with the province and the RM.
He said the company is installing a system to return excess surface water back to the mine site.
“It’s a precautionary measure just to make sure that our operations don’t impact any of our neighbours around there,” he said.
The company will be testing well water in the area, he added.
Pipes are being installed three to 3 1/2 feet deep, along with access ports that will allow for service and a pump station.
“All of that will be filled back in. It’ll be back to natural habitat,” he said.
Following the completion of the project and the spring thaw, crews will upgrade a summer road on the quarter section. Surface water has been an issue on the land in recent years and the roads will allow for more reliable access, said Hobbs.
“It has got more marshy, for sure,” said Beaudette, who enjoyed the wildlife that were attracted to the area.
PotashCorp has previously leased the land, and Hobbs expected the company will do so again.
“There’s no reason to take it out of circulation,” he said.
“It has been a little bit of a cropland, one individual has done with it, and there’s some grazing land that’s just south of where the actual project is going on, too. With it being so wet in that area, people haven’t been able to get down in there because the roads aren’t that great.”
