John Barker
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 09/02) - The Inuvik Regional Health and Social Services Authority has lifted a boil water advisory for Sachs Harbour, but problems continue in Tsiigehtchic, leaving that community's advisory in effect.

Chris Beveridge, the regional environmental health officer, said he cancelled the advisory for Sachs Harbour Sept. 4 after a sample tested fine.

Beveridge said he terms them boil water advisories, rather than the older term boil water order, because he has no power to order residential water users to boil water, although he does have the authority to force commercial users to.

In Tsiigehtchic, however, several recent water samples have continued to test with unacceptably high levels of total coliforms -- indicating non-specific bacterial growth in the water supply. The presence of the bacterial growth indicates it could -- potentially, but not necessarily -- cause someone who drank it to suffer from a gastro-intestinal illness, Beveridge said.

Different than Walkerton

Fecal coliform contamination, said Beveridge, can lead to life-threatening E. coli infections such as that which killed seven people who drank from the Walkerton, Ont., town water supply in May 2000.

Beveridge issued the boil water advisories as a precautionary measure late last month after both Sachs Harbour and Tsiigehtchic failed to deliver water samples for testing on time as required. Communities in the Northwest Territories are required to provide their regional health authority with four samples per month.

In the case of Sachs Harbour and Tsiigehtchic, the samples must arrive at Inuvik Regional Hospital for testing within 24 hours of being drawn. The samples are then cultured for 24 hours -- to check for bacteria growth -- making results available within a maximum of 48 hours of the sample being taken.

Beveridge said at the time he issued the boil water advisory he did not know the Tsiigehtchic water had unacceptably high total coliform counts. He simply implemented the advisory because the sample did not arrive on time.

No one in Tsiigehtchic, he said, is known to have got sick from drinking the water before the boil advisory was issued.

Problems shipping samples

Trevor Gates, Tsiigehtchic's senior administrative officer, said the community has transportation problems, with no truck often going the 132 kilometres up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik the day samples are due, and no flights out. Also, the Louis Cardinal ferry, which connects Tsiigehtchic on the west side of the Mackenzie River to the Inuvik portion on the east bank, was out for several days the last week of August with mechanical problems.

Gates said Tsiigehtchic takes full responsibility for the transportation problem and will make sure samples arrive on time in future.

Tsiigehtchic has a long history of water problems. Beveridge said he believes the current bacteria problem can probably be fixed by adjusting the community's chlorinator and adding more chlorine to the water supply. The chlorinator was not working for a period during August, he said.

The GNWT has set aside $100,000 this year and $1 million next year to design and construct a new water treatment facility for the community of about 190 people.

Five options for water treatment have been prepared by the Department of Public Works. Currently, water is treated directly out of Tso Lake as it is pumped into the water truck.

Tsiigehtchic will likely finalize its plans by the end of the year, and construction may begin next summer.

-- with a file from Lynn Lau