Non-essential water use ban likely to continue until Sunday: Epcor

A ban on non-essential water use in the Edmonton-area will likely continue until midday Sunday, Epcor said Tuesday afternoon.

The company announced the ban on Monday afternoon after a failure in the pumping system at the E.L. Smith water treatment plant around 2 a.m. that day.

"We've determined the likely cause of the issues, and these are related to the electrical system that supplies power to the large distribution pumps at the E.L. Smith water treatment plant, preventing us from distributing treated water into the system from that facility," Craig Bonneville of Epcor told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Repairing the problem involves replacing a number of large cables within the facility, according to Bonneville.

He says two of the four large pumps at the E.L. Smith plant are back online thanks to repair crews, but work continues on the remaining pumps.

The Rossdale water treatment plant also remains online, but is not able to supply the Epcor service area with enough water for normal consumption.

"Once the plant has been fully restored, it will still take a few days to replenish reservoirs and stabilize the distribution network. So until we attain those operating levels, the mandatory ban will remain," he said.

Since the ban was issued, Bonneville says water consumption dropped from an estimated 370 million litres of water per day to 340 million litres of water per day, but he added that people need to continue conservation efforts.

"Current water restrictions remain in place. Businesses that use non-essential water will have to remain closed until we lift the ban."

The ban impacts residents and businesses in Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Leduc, Beaumont and Fort Saskatchewan.

Bonneville said Epcor would not be providing compensation to impacted businesses.

"Compensations for business losses are often covered by their own business continuity insurance."

"We understand this is a difficult situation, but Epcor can't provide financial compensation due to the unforeseen nature of these events."

Bonneville said most businesses are complying with the shutdown, but to those who aren't, he issued a warning.

"Under our water bylaw that we have in the city of Edmonton, we absolutely have the authority to shut down water services if required to maintain the stability of the system, and we are prepared to do that."