Yellowknife (July 16/04) - City Hall warnings not to dump garbage at Fiddler's Lake sewage lagoon appear to be falling on deaf ears.

Located about 15 kilometres from downtown Yellowknife on Highway 3, the lagoon is for honey bags and animal waste, but everything from oil drums to dog carcasses are being dumped.

Restricting access to the lagoon "is something we don't want to do but we're running out of ideas," said public works director Greg Kehoe said.

"We're at the point where we've been notifying people that they shouldn't be doing it, and if people are still doing it, what do you do? Put a gate out there?" said Kehoe.

The lagoon leads through a number of creeks and swamps that eventually flow out to Great Slave Lake.

Such deposits could jeopardize the city's water licence with the federal government, said Kehoe.

Kehoe suspects residents living along Highway 3 -- who are much closer to Fiddler's Lake than they are to the city landfill -- are responsible for a large portion of offending trash.

Yellowknifer visited the lagoon Tuesday and saw a variety of household garbage, as well as some oil drums, unmarked plastic containers and the carcass of a dog.

Shortly after taking a peek at the putrefying dog, a wolf came out of the bush, picked it up, and carried it off into the woods. Bruce Underhay, the city's bailing facility subforeman, said people can take their dead pets and other animal carcasses to the dump if they wish.

"They get buried immediately," said Underhay.

Could disrupt balance

Ed Hornby, manager of the South Mackenzie district for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, said hydrocarbons and other chemicals deposited at the site could disrupt the balance of decomposition as sewage gradually drains out of the lagoon.

"I sympathize with the city," said Hornby.

"They have some sort of public dump-off place there, and people are probably abusing it, but until we see an effect, it's got nothing to do with their water licence."