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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife city councillor who hopes to be mayor after the municipal election this fall is demanding a legal review of the territorial government's requirement to build a $22-million water treatment plant, saying it's too much of an expense for the city to take on by itself.

Paul Falvo was one of two councillors to vote against a city administration proposal to award a $2.5-million contract to New York firm Pall Corporation to build a membrane filtration system for the city's water treatment plant at a special council meeting Monday.

All other councillors present approved the contract save David Wind; Coun. Mark Heyck was absent from the meeting.

Council approved a request from administration to allow the city to borrow $20 million for road, water and sewer infrastructure, including the water treatment plant last month. Administration justified the need for borrowing at the time in no small part on the GNWT's insistence on building the water treatment plant.

Falvo, who voted in favour of the borrowing scheme, said he now wishes he had asked the need for road, water and sewer line replacements to be kept separate from the water treatment plant.

He said the city is spending too much money on the filtration system, especially given the city's reputation for having one of the cleanest water sources in the country at the Yellowknife River. He thought a legal challenge should have been conducted by an environmental lawyer before moving ahead with the water treatment plant.

"Obviously, we all want clean drinking water and I have nothing against this company (Pall Corporation) per say," said Falvo, a lawyer himself.

"I think we should spend a few thousand dollars to get somebody who is legally skilled in these areas - which I am not - and see if the legislation can be challenged and challenge it."

Wind opposed the motion to hire Pall given his overall opposition to the construction of the water treatment plant.

"I feel the new standards have been imposed on the city by the GNWT's action to adopt the Canadian guidelines for water safety," he said.

"We have been told that Yellowknife's water has been of the highest quality and probably the best water around anywhere. I feel if there is a filtration system provided as the result of actions by the GNWT, it should be incumbent upon the GNWT to at least contribute toward the cost of providing assistance."

According to a city memorandum, Pall was one of two companies to submit proposals to the city in October. Pall beat out General Electric, largely due to its past experience of constructing filter systems at 30 other locations in Western Canada. The winning company is based in Port Washington, N.Y., and specializes in clean technology, purification of water and other related green services.

The city is currently in violation of the GNWT requirements for all municipalities to be in compliance with federal drinking water guidelines. Part of these guidelines include that the city must filter its drinking water.

The city has already expanded the water treatment plant reservoir and there are plans to build pumphouse and filtration components in the next phase of the project.

The filtration system, which will remove silt and other small particles from the water, will be an important part of the plant's overall construction, said Mayor Gord Van Tighem.

"This is the key component of the new water treatment plant," he said, pointing out that this will be important for future scheduling of the plant construction project which is expected to continue over the next two years.

"If you are building a building and there are going to be filters in it, you should know which ones they are and you got the measurements so that you can put the feet in the right place, rather than having them hanging up somewhere."

Van Tighem said it's a little late for a legal review.

"It is a bit late now. We're in year four or five of the project," said Van Tighem.

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