Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
The City of Iqaluit is distributing water from Sylvia Grinnell River Monday in response to complaints that the smell of fuel has returned to the city’s treated water. The water depot will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Elders Qammaq, according to a news release issued by recreation director Stephanie Clark. The city is asking residents bring refillable containers, and to boil the water before drinking it or cooking with it.
On Oct. 12, due to concerns about fuel contamination, Iqaluit issued a do-not-consume order for its tap water that lasted nearly two months. The city of 8,000 would eventually point to an underground fuel spill as the potential cause of the contamination. After learning that the city's water was not safe to drink, residents in Iqaluit collected water from the nearby Sylvia Grinnell River. The military was dispatched to help provide treated water from the river using mobile water treatment units.
Nunavut's former deputy chief public health officer says she flagged concerns to the City of Iqaluit about whether tests at the city's water facilities were done properly in early October when strange, fuel-like smells were coming from the taps. In an interview with CBC News, Dr. Anne Huang, who is no longer in the role, said that "It definitely was challenging to receive information that first week." Initially, she said the city "had no idea who I was." In the days that followed, her fears were realized when she found that initial water samples sent to an Ottawa lab had not been collected correctly.
In the summer, the Sylvia Grinnell River near Iqaluit is a popular spot to fish for Arctic char where ice-cold water cascades over rocky ledges. Now, with thick layers of ice and snow covering the flowing water below, it has become one of the city's main water sources for drinking and cooking. The other comes in thousands of plastic water bottles that arrive by plane.
Seven weeks into Iqaluit's drinking water crisis, the Canadian Armed Forces is finalizing plans to move its water purification efforts in Iqaluit to an existing military facility, as the city's water remains unsafe to drink. The original plan, which involved using a reverse osmosis water purifier at the Sylvia Grinnell River was waylaid Nov. 22 by a winter storm that snapped the frame of a military tent that sheltered clean water bladders from the reverse osmosis system.
The Canadian military has suspended its operation to pump potable water from the Sylvia Grinnell River during the city’s ongoing water emergency, spokesperson Maj. Susan Magill says. The call was made on Tuesday, after wind gusts of up to 100 km/h on Monday snapped the frame of a tent that was covering the tanks used for holding purified water along the river. “Right now, everything is at a standstill,” Magill said Wednesday. The city and Government of Nunavut ordered residents not to drink the city’s water on Oct. 12, after people complained of a fuel-like smell coming from their taps. It was later confirmed diesel fuel had contaminated the city’s water supply.
The City of Iqaluit urged its residents to have enough water on hand to last for 72 hours because of strong winds and heavy snowfall expected to start Monday night and end on Tuesday. “The City is recommending that residents refill water, in the event that the potential incoming storm limits their ability to leave their homes and get to water refilling depots,” Aleksey Cameron, communications manager with the city, said to Nunatsiaq News in an email. Tuesday marks the start of the seventh week that Nunavut’s largest community has been under an order not to consume city tap water, after diesel fuel was detected in the water in October. Many residents have been getting their water from city-run filling stations that provide water purified by the Canadian Armed Forces, who draw water from the Sylvia Grinnell River and run it through their temporary purification system.
Have you ever been told to turn off the tap while brushing your teeth because you’re “wasting water”? For a lot of Canadian kids, the supply of clean water might seem endless. You turn on your tap and it’s just there. But for more than a week now, people in Iqaluit, Nunavut, have not had it so easy when it comes to accessing safe drinking water. The city has been in a state of emergency since Oct. 12, with officials telling residents not to drink the city-supplied water because of a possible contamination.
When staff at Iqaluit‘s Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre heard the news last week that water from the city’s distribution pipes wasn’t safe to drink because of fuel contamination, they knew some people weren’t going to be able to get the precious liquid themselves. The city set up two distribution sites where people could fill up jugs with potable water, and many were able to drive to the nearby Sylvia Grinnell River and collect it themselves to boil for drinking. But Rachel Blais, executive director of the food centre, which runs a meal service and other community programs, said many people don’t have vehicles. Others, she said, have kids or work multiple jobs and don’t have time to get water.
A state of emergency has been declared in Iqaluit after city staff found evidence of fuel contamination in the city's treated water supply. The water is unsafe to drink, even if filtered or boiled, according to the municipality. In an interview with Nunatsiaq News Tuesday, Mayor Kenny Bell said every part of town was affected, whether water is delivered by pipes or by trucks. "It's everything. Any treated water," he told the paper.
