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Former chief says response to sewage overflow poor

Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 27, 2011

BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - The Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development didn't react quickly enough when a sewage pipe overflowed in Behchoko earlier this year, according to former chief Leon Lafferty, and there could be harmful effects on the community's water supply.

"If (the spill) had been done by Diavik or BHP, they would have been blasted over the news, but it was done by the local government, INAC's involved in it and the GNWT is involved in it," Lafferty said. "They're not doing their job and nobody's doing anything."

The sewage spill was first reported to officials Jan. 23 after a pipe at the community's lift station overflowed.

Lafferty said the resulting spill contaminated the lake and reservoir, which could negatively affect the community's water supply and fishing areas.

"The health of the water and the health of the fish and the wildlife is the most important thing to me," he said. "I wasn't interested in getting anyone in trouble over it, but they're not doing their job so I think they should get in trouble."

He said the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, formerly INAC, initially went to the wrong spill location and then never bothered to follow up with him.

Scott Stewart, water resource officer for the South Mackenzie district, said the department first received a spill report Jan. 23, and although it was vague and didn't contain an exact location or contact information, they sent two inspectors to investigate it that day.

They didn't find the spill the report was referring to, but made contact with the hamlet and SAO.

"We want to know about these spills," Stewart said, "but in order for us to act on them properly, we need spill reports with accurate information so that we can

follow up and do our job."

On Jan. 27 Stewart said an Environment and Natural Resources officer based in Behchoko reported another spill, this time at the lift station.

Upon talking with the hamlet and SAO, they arranged to remove the spilled sewage.

Stewart said the problem stemmed from a broken pump that the hamlet office was working on replacing.

The new pump, which they ordered in December, still hadn't arrived, so on a daily basis the department had to bring in a vacuum truck to pump up the overflowed sewage.

In the end, Stewart said they excavated the contaminated soil, disposed of it and continued to monitor the situation.

In addition, they have installed a new pump and increased its capacity to deal with sewage overflow.

He said there shouldn't be any concerns about the community's water supply as their water treatment plant has the capacity to treat for sewage contamination.

Lafferty said he has seen new spills since then, as recently as this past month, and wants officials to let residents know there is cause for concern, or at least caution.

"The thing that really concerned me is the people down the river," he said. "There was no public broadcast by the government, health or even INAC about these spills."

Behchoko SAO David Steele said the hamlet responded as quickly as it could, even though winter weather and delays receiving new parts complicated things.

"We don't anticipate any more spills of that nature in the future," he said.

Last week an inspector collected water samples from Behchoko, and results are expected back this week. They are testing for sewage contamination, specifically fecal coliforms and E. coli.

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