INUVIK - A resident of one of nine house-holds that went without running water for nine days last month is upset about the way the town handled the emergency situation.

Bernice Furlong at her home on Kingmingya Road. She was without running water for nine days last month after a water distribution line froze and burst. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photos

The town's after-hours water and sewage phoneline was out of order when Bernice Furlong tried to call it at about 6 a.m. on Nov. 12 after she discovered she had no water.

"I should have been given more information and we were not kept up to date on what was happening," said Furlong, who lives on Kingmingya Road.

Houses on Mackenzie Road and Union Street also lost water when a water distribution line froze on Nov. 11 and later burst. A Dowland Contracting team finally restored water to the homes on Nov. 20.

Furlong said she spent two hours calling various town officials trying to get an explanation of the problem. After finally reaching a town employee, she was told the correct emergency number was displayed on the community channel which she tried and got no answer. Every day she said she enquired about the situation and got the same response that water would probably be restored by the next day.

At the time Furlong had several relatives living with her, including her daughter and granddaughter. They were all able to go to family and friends to do laundry and bathe. But she said she quickly grew tired of relying on others for help.

"After a couple of days, your laundry starts to pile up and you don't have enough water. You wonder what you're going to do."

On Saturday, town employees started delivering water to her home. Having lived on the land she was able to cope but she was worried about others who weren't so lucky.

"I felt sorry for the families with small kids, I was worried about them and the elders."

Mayor Denny Rodgers said the town did the best it could do to get water running again. A faulty valve in the water line caused the water to backup and freeze. The town steamer, which is used to thaw water lines, wasn't working. Other steamers were brought on site but wouldn't work either.

A new water line had to be flown in.

She said she expected Dowland crews to be working around the clock but was surprised and frustrated to see them starting work at about 7 a.m. most mornings.

A few days after the incident Rodgers predicted the work would be completed Nov. 17. He couldn't explain exactly why the project ended up running days over the deadline. The town's department of public works is currently doing a report on the incident to explain why the blockage occurred.

Rodgers said the water line was old and in need of replacing. The town plans to replace a number of aging water lines throughout town in the coming years.

Elder Elizabeth Firth's home on Kingmingya Road was also affected. She said town employees regularly checked in on her and delivered water to her home.

"It was okay for me," she said. "I'm used to being out on the bush. They came here every day with water."

But she said she's worried the other water lines might freeze in the colder winter months.

"If the same thing happens when it's really cold, what will they do? It could be really bad."

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