Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Fort McPherson (Dec 20/99) - Fort McPherson residents are being asked to filter their tap water after high levels of chemicals linked to cancer continue to plague the town's water supply.

The chemicals, called trihalomethanes (THMs), have been hovering above the Canadian standard of 100 parts per billion for about a year, according to Dr. Mike Mulherin, Inuvik region medical health officer.

"Certain types of cancers have been linked with long-term THM exposure in correlation studies," he said. "However, it needs about 25 to 30 years of constant exposure, and the link hasn't been proven yet."

THMs are created when dissolved organic material in the water, such as algae or decomposing vegetation, interacts with chlorine used to disinfect the water. The most common type of THM is chloroform.

Residents are being asked to filter their water through a charcoal activated filter, such as a Brita-type filter, before drinking it.

Mulherin also advises people to never leave their filter jug out on the counter, but to keep it in the refrigerator so algae does not grow in the filter itself.

Mulherin said the filter order wasn't put in place until this November because Health Canada requires one year of testing to determine whether levels are too high.

"We'd been testing for a year this summer, when the levels suddenly dropped," Mulherin said. "We thought the workers at the water treatment plant had solved the problem.

"But it went up again in November, and we immediately took action."

Mulherin said many people in the town are melting ice and snow for water.

He said no one should drink untreated water without boiling it for 10 minutes.

"If it was safer to drink raw water than chlorinated water, we wouldn't chlorinate it and the problem would be solved," Mulherin said.

Fort McPherson gets its water from Water Lake, which faces the town from across the Dempster Highway.

Brian Lemax, superintendent for public works in the Inuvik region, said Water Lake is a shallow water source, which may cause some of the problems with organic materials.

"It could be from algae, or from leaves along the shoreline that fall into the water," Lemax said.

"The lake itself is no more than 10 metres deep in the deepest areas."

Lemax said a recent town meeting between Fort McPherson residents and several government departments about the water stirred up a lot of complaints.

"For a long period of time, there's been objections about the taste and odour of the water," Lemax said. "A lot of people want a new water system."

John Picek, regional superintendent for municipal and community affairs (MACA), said the government has been looking into a new water source for Fort McPherson for over a year.

Picek said Deep Water Lake, located about 25 kilometres north of the town, is being considered. However, the lake is on Gwich'in land.

Picek said the government is still negotiating with the Gwich'in Tribal Council on using the lake. The water also has to be tested.

Dave Jones, lands manager for the Gwich'in Tribal Council, said MACA put in an application to use Deep Water Lake about a month ago.

He said he will now meet with Gwich'in people in the communities to try to achieve a consensus on the issue.

Whether to transfer some lakeside land or lease it to the government is being considered.

Jones said a major concern is whether Gwich'in people will still be able to use the lake for recreation once it is a water reservoir.

"It's also not as easy as granting access and letting them take water from the lake," Jones said.

"There are many other issues as well."

Jones said he should have an answer for MACA by late January.