IQALUIT - The territorial government is planning to switch Resolute to trucked water and sewage from the utilidor system and residents aren't happy about it.

About 40 people voiced concerns about the proposed switch at a recent community meeting, with the majority saying they prefer to keep the hamlet's utilidor.

A shot of Resolute's Char Lake utilidor pumphouse. - photo courtesy of Shawn Maley

"The general sentiment is the community does not want to lose its utilidor," said Duncan Walker, SAO for the hamlet.

"It's not going to be a welcome thing here in Resolute," he added.

The current utilidor system has been in place for about 35 years. Normally, the systems only last 20 years, but many patchwork repairs have kept Resolute's utilidor going.

Walker said he heard several common concerns from residents at the community meeting.

Chief among them is the feeling a trucked system is not as sanitary as a utilidor system, which keeps water on a constant flow, said Walker.

Another concern is having to budget water and the perceived possibility that if there is a bad weather spell, deliveries could go off-schedule, he added.

Then, there's the issue of having a septic tank outside the home.

"(There's) an odour that people are not looking forward to having around town," Walker said.

"Right now they (the residents) see Resolute as having a clean air kind of pristine environment. They don't want to change that in any way," he added.

But Walker, and the hamlet, also recognize while the new system isn't yet set in stone – there are still some steps left like cost estimates and funding – there might not be any other options.

"It's just been Band-Aids put on it (the utilidor system) here and there," he said. "We're at the point now where we either get a complete overhaul for a lot of cash or we switch over to the trucked water and sewage system, which we do not want but we might not have any choice."

The number one problem with the utilidor system is it's old, said Shawn Maley, acting deputy minister for the Department of Community and Government Services.

"Primarily the biggest thing is with the age and the reliability of the system," said Maley. "We've had some near catastrophic issues with the system in the past five years."

He added in order to keep the system running over the years, the hamlet has completed many repairs that were meant to be temporary and have now become permanent.

"Our biggest concern is if we lose it (the system) in January, February, then we're all going to be screwed," said Maley. "That's our big fear – a freeze-up."

He added putting in a new utilidor system would be economically unfeasible.

"We really have no choice now in terms of the decision. To put a utilidor now in from scratch is astronomically unaffordable," he said.

Maley estimated a new utilidor system would cost in excess of $30 million at least.

"That's why there's no utilidor systems anymore," he said.

Switching to the trucked water system is expected to take two years. Every house in town will have to be converted to handle both a water and sewage tank instead of the current water and sewage line set up.

A parking garage to house the water trucks will also need to be built.

In the meantime, the new system will be the topic of discussion for the mayor and council and there is also some talk of forming a petition, said Walker.

"We're hoping in the end we'll still have our good old utilidor system," he said.

Most of the communities in Nunavut are on a trucked system, except larger communities such as Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit.

--with files from Kassina Ryder