By Kevin Gilby

CRAIK — “I don’t care how we got here, but this is what we have to go forward with,” says Dermot McCaw, referring to the status of the town’s water treatment system.

Dermot, along with Mark Wagner, Charla Edwards, Kim Bakken, Jason Hay, and Shayne Stubbington, is part of a newly-formed Water Task Force in response to the water outages that achieved widespread attention in July.

After the simple mechanical failure of a float system in the water distribution system forced the system offline for several days, several concerned citizens arose to the occasion to help town foreman JoAnne DuBeau restore water services to Craik.

Those residents, motivated to improve their community, united to form a committee offering planning and steering to the town council to address the water infrastructure and treatment needs going forward.

Members of the committee each cover overlapping areas of expertise, either through past experience working with the water treatment system itself, or related systems and machines used in related fields.

The committee is actively recruiting anyone with experience and knowledge to assist members in their goal of ultimately restoring potable water to the community.

During its first official meeting on Aug. 20, the committee worked to identify critical actions that require immediate attention.

The chief concern noted was seeking a working budget from town council, to be addressed during an emergency town council meeting scheduled for Aug. 24.

The task force is committed to evaluating the needs of the infrastructure and water treatment system and determining the best bang for the buck within the confines of the town’s monetary realities.

Once a financial understanding is obtained, members anticipate that the town will approve work to begin on several key improvements requiring immediate attention.

A critical improvement identified was the construction of a roof over the “old” water distribution plant and the installation of a new furnace. Both operations must be completed before winter.

In addition to repairs for the distribution plant, both it and the water treatment facility require work to be performed on improving ventilation, thus helping to limit corrosion on the equipment contained within.

The town would seek tenders for both projects.

For the full story, please see the Aug. 24 print edition of The Davidson Leader.