Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Sep 26/01) - School Draw residents say they believe water from storm sewers is polluting their waterfront. A study done this summer suggests they're right.
Frustrated by a lack of action from the city, residents have turned to the environmental agency reviewing the city's water licence.
 School Draw Avenue resident Doris McCann walks her dog near the storm sewer drain into Great Slave Lake. A study indicates storm water contains elevated levels of heavy metals, arsenic and
bacteria. - Richard Gleeson/NNSL photo
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The Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board will be holding a public hearing on the city's water licence renewal application Oct. 4 and 5 at the Ndilo gymnasium starting at 10 a.m.
"Our concerns as residents of this area, whose children and neighbours swim in the lake, is whether the water quality in the vicinity of these outlets is fit to swim in from a health standpoint," wrote Erik Madsen in a Sept. 14 letter to the board.
Eight of Madsen's neighbours signed their support to the letter.
One of the city's main storm water drains empties into the lake just metres from Madsen's property.
Water quality is not the only issue dividing School Draw residents and city engineers city.
"This whole area is being neglected," said Doris McCann. Two small peninsulas on either side of the entrance to the Dettah ice road offer lake views and access that attracts tourists and locals alike, she said, yet the areas are often littered with garbage.
Madsen noted the area of the lake into which the School Draw storm water flows is shallow and silty. One solution, he said, is to extend the culvert out into deeper water, where the silt and sediment from the water would more easily disperse.
Photos of the area before the outflow was installed show the lake went almost up to the road. Since then vegetation has grown out into the lake.
The quality of storm drain water flowing into the lake was the focus of a July 2001 study commissioned by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
For the study, University of Manitoba student Jared Smith analysed water samples taken in the spring from the School Draw outflow and two others emptying into the lake. Analysis revealed elevated levels of heavy metals, arsenic and E. coli bacteria.
"There could be a health hazard associated with the storm water," Smith concluded.
It was unclear, at deadline, what action the report spurred from the Department of Health and Social Services and City Hall.
The city is asking the board grant it a 15-year licence. The six-year term of the current licence ends Dec. 31.
Water world
