The residents of five communities in southeast Saskatchewan have been advised to boil their drinking water and are facing upgrades to their water treatment systems costing thousands of dollars.

Some of the warnings have been in place for as long as three years as the communities struggle with a complex planning process and determine how to pay for the upgrades.

Trossachs, Radville, Colgate, and Gladmar have received the lighter "advisories," from Saskatchewan Environment to boil their water. But, last July, Osage residents were issued a health order to boil their drinking water after the potentially deadly E. coli bacteria was found in the village treatment system.

In Trossachs, councillor Margaret Lukey says a $75,000 upgrade to the hamlet's water treatment system was approved last year but not finished for various reasons.

It was tough for a three-person board to approve that kind of expenditure, but the alternative was to ask the 20 residents to haul their water, she said.

"I carried water 50 years ago when we first came here and I wasn't about to do that again," she said.

The hamlet will add its $20,000 surplus to a federal/provincial grant of $50,000 to help pay for the system, and also expects to increase water rates by one-third this year. It was issued an advisory in March of 2002.

Trossachs already has a certified operator for the system.

The hamlet's board has also asked the RM of Brokenshell to ante up the rest of the cost, about $20,000.

Councillor Bob Moule defends the request. He said water bills show more farm people haul water from the Trossachs tap for home or stock watering than town people.

RM councillors have made no decision about contributing. Brokenshell administrator Kim McIvor said councillors are surveying their ratepayers.

Moule also thinks the provincial or federal governments should come up with more money. "It's the (provincial) regulation that's caused this. The water hasn't changed."

The provincial and federal governments pay about one-third each of the cost of municipal infrastructure programs like water treatment facilities.

Lukey said in spite of the water problem, people continue to live in the hamlet because of lower costs. Many are seniors who own well-appointed homes they can't afford to replace elsewhere, she said.

The bedroom community for Weyburn has also gained three new mobile homes in the last couple of years as families look for low-cost living, she said.

Gladmar's mayor, Dale Ehrhardt, echoes Moule's unhappiness with the tougher provincial standards that came into effect in December, 2003.

"I've been drinking the water for 40 years," said Ehrhardt. It's high in iron and sometimes has a bleach taste that has to settle out but otherwise it's perfect, he said.

The water comes from deep wells that would be very difficult to contaminate, he said.

His community of 45 people will have spent over $26,000, if the second phase of a new treatment system is installed. The first phase was about $4,000.

Gladmar's water bills have tripled in two years to help pay for it.

The budget is a problem every year because of the number of seniors on fixed incomes here, said Ehrhardt. "But we've got absolutely no choice about putting it in. Our concern is being able to come up with the last one-third of the cost."

Gladmar's town administrator Randy Hoimyr said most people haul their water from Minton and probably will continue because of the taste.

So they're putting all this money into a system for non-drinking water and some are beginning to wonder if they should go ahead, he said.

Gladmar was issued a water advisory in Dec. 2000.

Gary Kreutzer, mayor of the village of Osage, is just as frustrated.

The 25 residents in that village are facing a bill of $30,000-$40,000 to bring the treatment system up to standard and then, like all municipalities, the ongoing cost of a certified operator to keep it going.

"It's frustrating because we don't know what we should be doing," said Kreutzer. "Even if we doubled or tripled the water rates, we still couldn't pay for it in a reasonable time."

While provincial consultants examine the Osage system, the fear is they'll come up with a plan the community can't afford, he said.

No illness has been reported as a result of the water, which comes from the village dugout, and people are still bathing in it. "At times it gets real bad," said Kreutzer.

The village is hoping the province will allow it to offer only non-potable water to residents as a less-costly alternative.

The hamlet of Colgate is also hoping it might exercise that option for its 25-30 residents. Kevin Melle, administrator of the RM of Lomond which serves Colgate, said because of the low population it's a fairly major thing to redo the water system.

"But we have to do something."

A complete upgrade could cost $100,000, while a retooling would cost $5,000 to $20,000.

After spending money on new sand and carbon filters and getting water that is good most of the time, Melle said the RM is still hoping for a provincial permit to operate a non-potable water system only.

The new rating is called a hygienic-use classification. It requires a dwindling community to provide good drinking water, perhaps from bottles or some other method. It doesn't demand a high-cost, certified operator to run the system.

Meanwhile, Radville's water advisory, issued this winter because of problems caused by the extreme cold, continues in place because of a possible design error, said Brent Wilson, project officer for Sask Environment.

The 850 residents don't know yet if they face a small cost or a whole lot of money to fix the problem, said Radville mayor Terry Calibaba.

Town council agreed last week to hire a consultant to assess the situation and examine the options and costs for each, he said Thursday. He's hoping council will have all the information it needs to make a decision by fall so the costs can be included in the town's 2005 annual budget.

The province's explanation for the new regulations is straightforward.

It's all about protecting human health, said Sam Ferris, associate director of the drinking water quality section of Sask Environment.

"The deaths in Walkerton, Ont. and serious illness in North Battleford from bacteria in the water were a 'wake-up call' for all governments," he said.

After those events, the province reviewed all water treatment facilities and found 28 that lacked the minimum treatment. "We've found more since then," he said

Some local governments are reluctant to even chlorinate their water, he said.

The province has a phase-in period before municipalities are required to meet all the standards but, in the meantime, it can't sit idly by if the potential exists for serious health problems, he said.

"We've been asked to ensure there are no more serious disease outbreaks," said Ferris. He said elderly people, as well as babies, and those with weak immune systems are more vulnerable than the rest of the population to water-borne illnesses.