Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Aug 02/00) - Only 10 houses and business will remain on trucked water and sewer services after this summer.

Phase three of Rankin Inlet's ambitious master plan to eliminate all trucked services from the hamlet is well under way in the Area 6 subdivision.

"The only reason 10 units will stay on trucked services is because there are no major lines in their area," said senior administrative officer Ron Roach.

The only area that won't be serviced by the utilador system is near the Kivalliq Inuit Association building and Umingmak Supply Ltd.

This summer Area 6 is experiencing the effects of $1.5 million worth of work, with 26 units exchanging water and sewer tanks for pipelines buried beneath the permafrost. Now in the third and final year of the $6.2-million utilador project, Roach says future work will likely be delayed until more lots are occupied.

A new homeowner can expect to pay an additional $8,000 to $10,000 for hook-up to the system, while anyone who purchased tanks before the project began in 1998 will receive installation free of charge.

Project manager Dennis Althouse says using a utilador system is more cost-effective and efficient for a community in the long run.

"Aside from getting services on storm days, operating a pipe system is about one-seventh of the total cost of operating a trucked system," said Althouse, who works for the department of public works.

"People also end up with safer drinking water because water tanks are notorious for not getting cleaned."

The utilador provides constant and consistent circulated, treated water and sewage removal.

An average family would normally have their tanks filled and emptied about twice a week, and in the event of stormy weather, they would have to wait until it cleared.

The project originally began more than five years ago with DPW at the helm. Two years into the construction phase the hamlet took full responsibility for the contract.

Two truck driver jobs will be eliminated once the project is complete, but Roach said in anticipation of completion they have only been hiring casual staff.