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MLA fears arsenic in water
Mayor says drinking water from Yellowknife Bay still an option

Svjetlana Mlinarevic
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 16, 2012

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A plan to move the city's water source to Yellowknife Bay is still on the table and that's a cause of concern for one MLA.

The submarine water line that runs eight kilometres along the bottom of Yellowknife Bay from Pumphouse No. 2 on the Yellowknife River to Pumphouse No. 1 on 48 Street was built in 1969 and would cost $10 million to replace versus $2 million to draw Yellowknife's water supply directly from Yellowknife Bay.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley fears the city will choose the cheaper option downstream of Baker Creek, where arsenic trioxide from decades of roasting gold ore at Giant Mine is still being emitted into the bay.

"The biggest concern is that there's a new water source being planned for the city which is now downstream of (Giant Mine)," said Bromley.

"Previous to that, it will have been upstream. (The city has) not done any studies on the flow and currents as to where that water will be in relation to the water intake."

Federal government guidelines state that the maximum allowable concentration of total arsenic in drinking water is 10 parts per billion. Yellowknife Bay is currently at three parts per billion with the highest concentration recorded at 6.5 parts per billion, according to a city study from May 10, 2011.

But only four days later, Baker Creek overflowed its banks and into a tailings pond at Giant Mine before re-entering the creek and into Yellowknife Bay. Water sampling on May 16 showed arsenic levels in the creek 700 times the acceptable level for drinking water.

Newly elected Mayor Mark Heyck acknowledges that the city is still considering moving its water intake to Yellowknife Bay.

"It'll definitely be discussed," said Heyck, adding discussions with council will begin in the new year.

"Basically, we have a few years left in the life of the submarine line that runs out to the Yellowknife River ... There's a significant cost to replacing the line all the way out to the river.

"The concern lies with if there was some sort of catastrophic event with the tailings pond with Giant Mine or the underground chambers with Giant Mine. It's a question of planning for the future in terms of, if we're going to maintain the water source at Yellowknife River then we need to start setting aside money for that work because that's a significant expense."

Dennis Kefalas, director of public works and engineering for the city, said the new water treatment plant the city is building will be capable of filtering out arsenic should the city choose to draw its water from Yellowknife Bay. The $20-25 million water treatment plant expected to be complete by 2014. The territorial government ordered the city to build the water treatment plant in order to comply with federal water quality guidelines.

Kefalas said the water quality in Yellowknife Bay is exceptional, although he acknowledged contamination from Giant Mine remains a threat.

"We've been testing water in Yellowknife Bay for the last eight years," said Kefalas.

"The water is extremely high quality, the same as what comes out of the river."

Bromley said, however, it's too risky switching water sources to Yellowknife Bay considering 237,000 tonnes of soluble arsenic trioxide will be stored at Giant Mine, potentially forever.

"This is probably the most polluted site in Canada and it's a complex situation," said Bromley.

"There's a lot of surface pollution, there's a lot of arsenic storage there, pollutants on the surface include mercury, cadmium and so on but it's made more complex with the fact that there's tremendously fractured rock because of all the blasting, so water is continually flowing through that mine and threatening to get in the arsenic vaults."

Adrian Paradis, acting regional manager for the Giant Mine Remediation Project, stated in an e-mail that the federal government's clean-up plan calls for an improved treatment system at Baker Creek that will improve water quality entering Yellowknife Bay.

"The treated water must meet strict regulations before it is released into the environment," Paradis stated.

"The remediation plan proposes a new water treatment plant and a new location for treated water release that will, in the long term, actually improve the water quality in Yellowknife Bay."

Heyck and Kefalas noted the city has made a request to the federal government to fund replacement of the submarine pipeline in 2020 in hopes of continuing with the Yellowknife River source without added cost to Yellowknife taxpayers.

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