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RANKIN INLET - Residents of Area 6 in Rankin Inlet have local vandals to thank for the foul odour they've been dealing with this summer.

The smelly fumes wafting over Area 6 are being caused by deteriorating glycol under the Kivalliq Regional Health Centre.

Acting senior administration officer Arnie Brown said the situation is a result of the heat-recovery line to the health centre being vandalized this past winter.

He said a control valve was destroyed underneath the building that's used in case the system has to be drained or topped up.

"The valve is located inside a locked cage, but the vandals simply beat their way through the screen, kicked the valve open and released about five 45-gallon drums worth of glycol," explained Brown.

"Because there's a containment berm under the building, the glycol, basically, just sat there.

"Workers pumped out what they could, but there was only so much they could do.

"The odour is still there, but, every time it rains, it breaks it down more and the smell becomes more evident."

The line and valve damaged by the vandals is part of the heat-recovery project in Rankin.

Excess heat from the power plant is recirculated through the system to, hopefully, help subsidize heating costs in the buildings connected to the project.

A heat exchanger is attached to the generators at the plant, with large pumps pushing the excess heat out to loop through the system and feed connected buildings.

Glycol is used in the system because it won't freeze.

Brown said the fluid is mixed at a rate of 55 per cent glycol and 45 per cent water.

He said the mixture will continue circulating even at temperatures of -40 C.

"If, for whatever reason, the line stops, it will jell, but it will not freeze.

"It may take a good push to get going again, but you won't have split lines and things of that nature to deal with.

"Glycol is not poisonous, so the damage caused by the vandals didn't create any danger to the public.

"Residents will just have to put up with the smell every time it rains until, eventually, it goes away by the end of the summer."