Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, May 28, 2007

HAY RIVER - There is some doubt about what exactly caused the recent dirty water - and a resulting boil-water advisory - in Hay River.

"We don't know for sure," said Mayor John Pollard last week.

Originally, it was thought the dirty source water in Great Slave Lake was caused by the high and fast Hay River carrying silt and debris as far as the town's water intake pipe eight km out into the lake.

Pollard said the town's public works officials are not sure the Hay River is to blame, noting the water coming out of the river takes a left turn in the lake and heads along the shore towards the Mackenzie River.

"We're going to try to find out what's going on," he said, adding it is possible the dirty river water may have reached the intake point.

However, the mayor said the dirty water may have instead originated in the Slave, Buffalo or Little Buffalo rivers to the east of Hay River.

Pollard said, once the facts are known, the intake pipe might be moved further out into the lake.

The dirty water was clearing up last week, but the boil water advisory was still in effect as of May 23.

Hay River residents were advised to boil water as of May 16.

That followed a rise in the source water's turbidity level - a measure of the amount of suspended solids, such as silt and clay.

The town's treatment plant could not reduce the turbidity to an acceptable level and the overall effectiveness of treatment could not be guaranteed.

The precautionary advisory was issued by Duane Fleming, the NWT's chief environment health officer with Stanton Territorial Health Authority in Yellowknife.

"We're getting close to lifting it," Fleming said on May 23.

No illnesses were reported in the community as a result of the dirty water.

Water from Hay River is also trucked to the Hay River Reserve, Enterprise and Kakisa, and all those communities were also advised to boil it.