John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 10, 2007

COLVILLE LAKE - In the early days of 2006, residents and leaders in this northern-most Sahtu community were celebrating their soon-to-open water treatment plant.

Almost two years have passed since then and the plant has yet to treat a single drop of water.

It's left residents wondering why it was ever constructed in the first place.

"It's very frustrating," said resident Barry Gully. "I don't know why they built it if they weren't going to use it."

The plant, which was built with a faucet on the outside so people could pick up clean water on their own whenever they needed it, has yet to pass its building inspection, and Ayoni Keh Land Corp. director Alvin Orlias said the lack of electricity is the problem.

"It hasn't got a permanent source of power," he said.

The facility was built with solar panels, batteries and a small generator, he said, adding the generator was never designed or intended to power the plant.

"It's supposed to be for charging the batteries and then the plant runs off those," he said. "In the summer the solar panels would charge the batteries."

There isn't much else that needs to be done before the plant can open, he said.

"I don't know why they haven't put up poles and run lines to it yet," added Orlias.

"We just need power."

The NWT Power Corp. (NTPC) has been aware of the situation with the plant for 14 months now and plans to hook it up early in 2008, said Vaughan Slade, NTPC's communications and customer service co-ordinator.

"We were requested to connect the Colville Lake water treatment plant ... but we just got the signed contract on Dec. 3," he said. "We couldn't do the work until we had a signed contract."

The contract covers the cost sharing agreement for connecting the facility and is between the community, NTPC and the territorial Department of Public Works and Services. While Slade wasn't sure why the document was so long in coming together, he added the plant has only been ready to be plugged into the community's power supply since October.

"A crew will be en route as of Jan. 2," he said. "Once they arrive, it should take 10 days to complete."

Steve Lewis, acting deputy minister of public works and services, contends a contract was signed in September.

He said he wasn't sure why the Power Corp. had not received it until December.