Though none of the jobs associated with it are being dropped, one of the control rooms at Boundary Dam has officially seen its last shift. SaskPower will be closing the A-plant control room, which was once used to operate the first two units ever put into service at the dam, which were retired in 2013 and 2014. 

"The A-plant control room at that point, when those two units were retired, shifted functions to operate comm assistance at the plant," said SaskPower spokesperson Joel Cherry. "Things like coal handling and the water treatment plant, the ash lagoons, the cooling water system and so on."

Over the last few months, SaskPower has shifted those controls over to the B-plant and C-plant control rooms, so the A-plant is no longer operational. Luckily, the jobs in question aren't being cut back as work shifts are simply moved over along with the control room's functions. 

"This isn't associated with any layoffs or anything like that," Cherry said. "Both the responsibilities and the positions from the A-plant control room are being relocated to the other control rooms and what this is going to allow us to do is operate the plant in a more efficient manner basically operating two control rooms rather than one."

Although no one is losing their job over this, some may still be sad to see the control room shut down as many will have worked their entire career there. As it shuts down, the control room is doubtless the site of many memories for Boundary Dam workers. 

"The first two units were first operational in the 1960s," Cherry said. "That control room has been there for a while and certainly I'm sure some of our staff have been there for quite some time. It's like any other relocation in that there might be some sentimental attachment to your workplace, but they won't be going far."

Cherry added that with two of the six units at Boundary Dam having been decommissioned, it made sense to scale things down in terms of number of control rooms, but all the essential functions of the old control room would still be performed. He also said as much as Boundary Dam is important to Estevan, it's important to SaskPower as well as it produces so much of their power.