SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife has one of 11 water treatment plants in the NWT that doesn't currently meet the territorial government's drinking water regulations, so the city will begin constructing a new plant, complete with a filtration system, next year.

If Yellowknife didn't have a water treatment plant in its capital plan, the Chief Public Health Officer would have the power to force the city to build one, said Duane Fleming, chief environmental officer for the GNWT.

In total, there are 30 water treatment plants in the territory, 19 of which meet the regulations, said Olivia Lee, engineering team leader for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

The 11 remaining plants are working toward that goal. Six, including one in Yellowknife, are presently in the design or construction stages, four communities have construction of a treatment plant in their capital plan, and the remaining plant, in Hay River, meets the regulations the majority of the time, but sporadically has issues with turbidity Ð cloudiness of water Ð after the ice breaks up, said Lee. The first step to building a new plant in Yellowknife is the construction of a gravel access road through Tin Can Hill.

The road will start behind the Copper Sky development currently under construction at the foot of Tin Can Hill, and will have at least two lookout points, making it accessible for recreational use.

Chris Greencorn,the city's public works manager, said the reason for the road is that the existing one leading up to Pumphouse No. 1, located at the end of 48 Street, won't be sufficient during the construction of the treatment plant.

The plan is to start roadwork this summer.

The approximately $18-million water treatment plant will bring Yellowknife's drinking water up to the territorial government's standards.

In September 2009, the GNWT adopted the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality as regulations. These guidelines require all drinking water drawn from a surface water body to go through a filtration system.

Currently, Yellowknife tap water is only screened to keep out debris and fish and then chlorinated at Pumphouse No. 1.

Fleming said filtration removes the particles in the water that cause turbidity. He said this is important because those particles can interfere with the chlorine's ability to disinfect the water.

The membrane filtration system the city plans to install in the new water treatment plant will trap small particles in the water, like silt and sediment.

Fleming said although the new regulations came into effect a year and a half ago, the GNWT has given communities time to install filtration systems.

"Putting in filtration, that takes time," he said. "We have been flexible about what date (the City of Yellowknife) has to filter their water by because they're working towards it. It's a big project, it takes time."

Through pilot programs and testing, the city has been preparing to build a water treatment plant since 2004, the same year the city had a high turbidity event causing a boil water advisory.

In 2010, the city awarded AECOM Technology Corporation a contract to design the treatment plant.

Richard Tombs, a process engineer for the Edmonton-based company, was in Yellowknife last month to discuss the possibility of changing the city's drinking water source to Yellowknife Bay. He said if the city were to make that decision, the new water treatment plant would include an arsenic treatment system.

Fleming said this should not be a concern.

"I think some of the confusion out there, people think the arsenic treatment is being put in because the arsenic is high in the source water if they change to Yellowknife Bay, but that's not true," he said, noting that the arsenic treatment system is just a precaution.

"The arsenic in Yellowknife Bay is low, as well as it is for Yellowknife River. The city could chose either source and, from the information I have right now, either source would be acceptable."

According to the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, the maximum arsenic concentration allowed in drinking water is 10 parts per billion. During his presentation last month, Tombs said arsenic in Yellowknife Bay has not exceeded that number, and in most cases it was less than three parts per billion.

The rationale behind the water source change is the eight-kilometre-long underwater pipeline used to bring water to Pumphouse No. 1 from the river is reaching the end of its lifespan. If the water source remains the same, the pipeline, which has been in place since 1968, needs to be replaced by 2020 Ð a project that would cost the city $10 million.

In comparison, it would cost the city $3 million to install an arsenic treatment system.

The decision to change the water source won't be made tomorrow, but is rather a discussion that will take place over a number of years, said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

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