Water level at 'critical state': Emergency alert issued for Wainwright over water supply levels

(Town of Wainwright/Facebook)

The Town of Wainwright declared a local state of emergency Friday due to water supply issues.

Water supply levels have "reached a critical state, affecting the town’s ability to provide water to residents and ensure adequate water is available to support emergency fire suppression," according to the town's website.

The issues stem from improvements happening on 1 Avenue.

"We were alerted late Wednesday afternoon that there may be an issue," Carley Herbert, the town's information officer told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

She said as of Friday morning, the issue still had not been resolved.

"At about 10:45 this morning we decided we needed to put out a state of local emergency so that we could have some of our large water users stop operations," she said.

Herbert says the cause of the issue is still unknown.

"We're just really asking for our residents to reduce their water consumption. We are working on getting water trucks in town and all those sorts of things, but it still takes a lot of time. And we really need their cooperation."

Citizens and visitors are asked to:

A mandatory outdoor water ban is also in effect for the time being, according to the town.

Herbert says there's no timeline on when the state of emergency will be lifted.

Updates will be provided through the town's website and social media.