GN lacks water supply plan
Capital, communities in danger of drying up
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Saturday, June 17, 2017
NUNAVUT
In his third paper in as many years, published June 12 in the journal of Environmental Science and Pollution Research, York University assistant professor Andrew Medeiros says the City of Iqaluit's water supply could dry up by 2024.
Researcher Andrew Medeiros perches on a rock looking at the spill water from a lake in Iqaluit in 2010. The water spills over the lake into the stream pictured here, then makes its way to the Apex River – a potential source of potable water to top up Iqaluit's dwindling supply - photo courtesy Andrew Medeiros |
"Iqaluit is already too big for its water source," Medeiros explained to Nunavut News/North. "Every year the lake will have something withdrawn and something will enter, whether it's snow melt or rainfall. That positive/negative needs to balance out, otherwise the lake will continuously lower in its level. If you take more than is refilling, that's drawdown."
That could happen to any community in the territory reliant on a single lake for water. Kugluktuk, thanks to the Coppermine River, and Baker Lake are exceptions.
The biggest threat to a water supply is not having a plan, says Medeiros.
"Nunavut has no water strategy. It's the only jurisdiction in Canada that doesn't. If you have a community like Iglulik or Iqaluit run out of water and you don't have a plan, well . then what?" asked Medeiros.
"Iglulik (in 2015), because they had no plan, on an emergency basis, basically took a fire hose pump from the fire brigade, stuck it in the closest lake to their water supply, and pumped the water out of it. The problem with that is they chose a lake that is actually extremely high in parasites."
Some people became ill.
Iqaluit relies on Geraldine Lake, and all it would take is one bad year.
"If you get a warm and sunny year, that means you're going to melt off that lake really quickly, all that water from the wintertime is going to flush out in May, no recharge, no rainfall, lots of evaporation and it won't fill back up again by the time the lake freezes. You're going to have a huge problem. You'll just run out of water," said Madeiros. "That's exactly what happened to Iglulik."
Apex River wrong choice
The City of Iqaluit is looking to top off its water supply from the Apex River.
"We've been telling them for years now that's just not possible," said Medeiros.
Using the Apex River adds two years, taking Iqaluit into 2026 - less than a decade in the future.
"If you do it properly, under the guidelines the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has set for a respectable withdrawal level - you can only taking 10 per cent of the river flow at any given time."
How much water from Apex River would satisfy Iqaluit's needs so it doesn't remain in a perpetual state of drawdown?
"We figured that was about 110 per cent of the Apex River. Not feasible whatsoever."
The City of Iqaluit declined to answer questions for this story.
"Ensuring an ample supply of clean and regulated water for residents is a top priority for the City of Iqaluit. The City is working closely with all levels of government to ensure the long-term viability of delivering safe water for current and future needs." stated communications manager Andrea Spitzer via e-mail.
"Regarding the report mentioned, it was not commissioned by the City; we have no further comment."
Medeiros is shocked by the city's response.
"They were partners of this work," he said. "They were active in the design of it. They were active in the data. They were active in every way. Literally, the person in charge of water in Iqaluit, Matthew Hamp, was with us, I think, every day for a two-week period while we were working on the technical side of things."
The researchers even held a three-day workshop last year.
"At that workshop, there was pretty good agreement that we looked at everything possible. But one year later, and they're still proposing to take water from Apex River. In fact, they've moved further ahead with that proposal. It's mind-boggling to me."
Medeiros is also shocked the City of Iqaluit has seemingly hired a consulting firm to do the same work York University has already done for free. He said Rankin Inlet's experience is a cautionary tale.
"That particular consulting company . did the study on the pipeline Rankin Inlet installed trying to supplement their water from the Char River. That was completely inappropriate because the Char River is such a small low-flow river that it actually dries naturally in the summertime. So they built this (seasonal replenishment) pipeline at this consulting company's suggestion and it's completely useless," said Medeiros.
This past October, Rankin Inlet North MLA Tom Sammurtok brought the issue to the legislative assembly by questioning Community and Government Services Minister Joe Savikataaq.
"We are working towards getting a different water source to replenish Nipissar Lake," Savikataaq assured Sammurtok. "Right now, we're working on getting a water board licence to pump from First Landing Lake. We feel that we will have our water licence by early summer of 2017."
Rankin's problem is much larger than Iqaluit's - its water consumption is 950L per capita per day, whereas Iqaluit's is 350L per capita per day, 100L higher than the national average. Both are losing water to leaky infrastructure.
No plan, says minister in May
In May, Sammurtok questioned Savikataaq again.
"Can the minister tell us what specific research or planning is currently being undertaken to monitor Nunavut's current and future water supply needs?"
Savikataaq said he didn't think his department had an overall plan for the territory, adding, "There are some communities that are having a current water shortage right now and we deal with them. It's a case-by-case basis."
