ARVIAT - People in Arviat are outraged over the quality of water being trucked to their homes from Landing Lake.

Eskimo Point Lumber Supply was offering special "fish free" water to its customers in Arviat this past week. - photo courtesy of Ryan St. John

The lake was selected as an alternate water source after a leak was discovered in one of the two cells at the community's reservoir, but water from the lake is being described as murky and the colour of ginger ale.

A number of homes also had fish in the delivered water, the result of a broken filter which has since been repaired.

Larry Alagalak said the water being delivered is simply unacceptable. He said it's almost like the people of Arviat are being treated as animals that can't think for themselves.

"A bunch of elders in the community were brought together for consultation and they suggested there was better water at Qamutyaqtalik Lake," said Alagalak.

"The elders said they used to use that lake as a source for drinking water in the old days. The hamlet hired a bunch of men to cut ice and bring it to the community for drinking water, and that's where they're taking it from. Nobody's sure why they're using Landing Lake because its water is dirty and salty."

Alagalak said he won't use the water to bathe his eight-month-old son, who suffers from eczema.

He said his family stored a few gallons to use for his son before the hamlet started trucking water.

"We use that for his baths because we don't want the trucked water to affect his condition, and salt on a wound is also quite painful. We use the trucked water for our own showers, but they had better options.

"A lot of people in the community are screaming about this, but it seems nobody is listening. They're forcing this water upon us and our leaders and politicians are ignoring us."

Alagalak said the hamlet is delivering reservoir water to the health centre and schools in the community. He asks if the trucked water is not good enough for them, why is it good enough for the rest of the community?

"The students go to school and have clear, clean water to drink, but then they go home to this yellow water. I know they're screening it and using chlorine in the water trucks, but when you look at this water you can't believe there's no contaminants in there.

"You also have a lot of older folks who can't go to the fire hall or Department of Public Works to pick up the five gallons of drinking water available there. Then there are people with health issues who can't carry that much weight and others who have no way of getting the water home."

Arviat Mayor Bob Leonard said the colour and solids content of the water at Landing Lake dropped dramatically from when it was tested in January.

He said when the hamlet started pumping water from there on March 6, a big hole was blown in the mesh screening the water.

"About 11 houses got water with small minnows and other stuff in it," said Leonard.

"As soon as the drivers saw what was happening, they stopped pumping from there and flushed out their water trucks.

"Jim Wall from Community and Government Services in Rankin Inlet and hamlet foreman Joe Savikataaq Jr. worked through the night to install a high-quality stainless steel mesh in the pumping system at Landing Lake. The mesh is a backup unit they dismantled from our water-treatment facility and took to the lake."

Leonard said when word spread about fish in the water tanks, it scared a lot of people in the community. He said the hamlet has contracted with the Housing Association to clean the tanks and those affected will have the water replaced.

"It was a rough start and, I'm not going to kid people, the water is not great. I don't want people to be afraid of their water, so we had a conference call that included a number of elders and they came up with a list of four other spots that might be worth a try, including Fire and Qamutyaqtalik lakes.

"Fire Lake was tested in January and, at that time, the results weren't as good as those from Landing Lake."

Council has since passed a motion to move the hamlet's pumping station to Goose Lake and take water from that location until things can be put back to normal. Water tests at Goose Lake came back excellent. The community has high hopes it will fit the bill for the next few months, although it will take two to three weeks to build a road to the lake.

Leonard said the damaged cell will probably need extensive repairs this summer. He said the community has to get through the present situation until the second cell can be refilled in early to mid-June.

"They're predicting a cold spring, so it might be later before we can start pumping to refill the cell we're using. We're hauling ice in for fresh drinking water and we're also supplying drinking water from the existing water reservoir.

"The water we're delivering from the lake is perfectly safe - although not of a nice quality - but we're not suggesting anybody drink it or even wash their babies in it. If we don't find a better source, than this is what we have and we have to make the best of a bad situation."

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