Hey Bonnyville, I'm finally back from my weeklong geography boot camp (yes, I now know Nicaragua is in Central America!) to bring you yet another edition of the Mic Check. This week I'll be talking about an issue that affected every man, woman and child in town this past weekend – water.
Shortly after noon on Saturday, I decided it was probably time I removed myself from the comfort of my couch to spruce myself up a little bit – you know, brush my teeth, maybe take a shower and then afterwards I could address the mountain of dishes that had slowly been building up on my counter top.
As I'm sure everybody is aware right now, as I went to turn the tap with a significant dollop of toothpaste already on my brush there was nothing. No noise, no water, nothing. Of course my first instinct was to panic. I immediately looked towards my toilet and flushed it, a decision I would come to regret later. I tried to turn on the shower – nothing. I went out into the kitchen and attempted to fill the sink – nothing.
At the time, I didn't know this was an issue the whole town was dealing with, so I picked up the phone and called my landlord, hoping they would send a maintenance guy to fix the issue. They said they would send somebody right away and so I waited, and waited and waited. It wasn't until around 3 p.m. that I picked up my laptop and logged into Facebook that I noticed the status on the Nouvelle's web page stating there had been a huge break in the Bonnyville water line and the Town had shut off the water.
Now I don't know about you, but the fact I was unable to call upon water for most of the day Saturday served as a real inconvenience for me. Of course, it's just one of those unfortunate things that happens from time to time. It did however, make me realize just what I take for granted on a daily basis.
No water means no showering, no washing, no going to the bathroom and no drinking for some – you know, the basics most of us don't typically have to worry about because they're just there and available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
It took almost 24 hours from the time the water was shut off for the hardworking town crews to temporarily fix the issue and provide running water for local residents again. Speaking during the first intermission of the Pontiacs impressive 5-3 victory over the Grande Prairie Storm Mayor Gene Sobolewski said the issue with the line was a significant one and that crews would have to address the issue properly in the summer months.
I think this weekend served as an education to me to not take anything, especially running water, for granted.
