Things are going well at the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant but that's not to say things can't be better.

General Manager Ryan Johnson says while they've worked through problems with the water quality in the lake, he believes the province could be the biggest help, if they'd only listen. Johnson believes if they move more water in from Lake Diefenbaker, our drinking water will be better and cost less to produce.

"We approached the province to look at water quality and not just quantity when it comes to the Water Security Agency's mandate on how they manage the lakes." said Johnson. "At the time, the province said they wanted to do some studying and we never did get a final report so we want to go back to the cities and re-ask the question."

Water quality became a problem at the lake when the Moose Jaw River backed up into Buffalo Pound during the flooding a few years ago, changing the water's chemical composition. While the plant has been able to adapt, it hasn't been easy.

Johnson presented the plant's semi annual report to councillors this week and also outlined their plans for the future that includes millions of dollars worth of upgrades to ensure clean water for Moose Jaw and Regina. Electrical problems in recent years have been a major headache. Several times, we've been under water use restrictions due to power failures at the plant.  

While Regina has wells to pull from when the plant goes down, Moose Jaw only has the plant northeast of the city as a source of water so an outage can be a very big deal.