IQALUIT
Iqaluit city council approved a new plan July 22 to end Iqaluit's two-month-old landfill fire for half the price and in almost half the time. But nothing will happen, Fire Chief Luc Grandmaison said, until the territorial or federal governments agree to help cover the cost of the new plan, now set at $2.285 million, plus a $342,000 contingency fund.

Iqaluit's landfill fire has burned for ten weeks, and still the city awaits funding to put the fire out. A revised $2.3 million plan is now in the hands of territorial decision makers. - Casey Lessard/NNSL photo

"The government of Nunavut wanted an updated plan by Aug. 1," Grandmaison said. "That's what they're evaluating right now."

As it mulls funding, the territorial government has offered to provide five out of 34 firefighting items required.

A big contributor to the cost reduction is the elimination of the use of foam, which would have helped reduce the particulates going into the air. This would save the city $13,000 per day, or about $650,000 from the original 50-day plan.

That plan called for the 15-metre tall pile to be moved load by load and dunked into a pond until cool enough to move back onto a new garbage pile. During this time, firefighters would pour water continuously onto the smouldering pile. This plan would see the pile reduced to two metres.

The new plan would see dunking end when the pile is reduced to five metres in height, which would mean workers would only have to move about half of the pile, because it is shaped more like a pyramid than a cube, and therefore is bulkier at the bottom than at the top. Landfill fire expert Tony Sperling figures the fire could be extinguished by that point.

This approach will reduce the number of firefighting days to 30 from 50, Grandmaison said.

Since the beginning, a major concern has been the risk of contaminating the water in Koojesse Inlet and Frobisher Bay as water is poured onto the landfill.

"Lots of material will be left in place, so we will have much less water runoff," Grandmaison said. "We believe lots of it will be absorbed through the material through the ashes, the combustibles. It's not going to be 13 million litres of water runoff. Water runoff might be 30 per cent of it, which can be contained and decontaminated if we need to. That (30 per cent) is a projection. We're sitting on bedrock here."

The plan's approval comes days after the Department of Health warned women of child-bearing age not to breathe the smoke, and to stay indoors when possible. That's because three of seven tests for dioxins and furans, sampled at Iqaluit's Four Corners intersection from June 15 to 28, were above a threshold set by the Province of Ontario. That threshold, which is considered very conservative, is 0.1 picograms per cubic metre of air. The highest reading, taken June 23, was five times that limit. On June 18 and 22, the readings hit 0.2 pg/m3.

"There is a possible risk that dioxins above the standard may lead to decreased fertility in male offspring," a public health advisory issued July 18 stated. "The dump fire smoke could have an impact on vulnerable people, such as those with heart or lung disease or asthma, as well as children, pregnant women and the elderly. These people should avoid the area around the dump fire and stay indoors as much as possible with the doors and windows closed."

Since then, medical officer of health Maureen Baikie has revised the advisory.

"We're just tweaking it now to be more specific," Baikie said July 24. "The intent of the advisory was to provide women with information to protect their unborn baby. Our intent is for women who are pregnant, who are planning a pregnancy, and also those who may become pregnant that aren't necessarily planning," as well as those who might not yet realize they are pregnant.

"Wherever they are where they are exposed to the smoke, they should follow the advisory," she said.

Health Canada takes dioxin and furan samples once every six days, and the Department of Environment takes samples when the smoke blows toward the city. More results are expected this week.

Long term exposure to dioxins can cause cancer, but Baikie said people are regularly exposed to dioxins through fatty foods and tobacco smoke, as well as forest fires, burning garbage and burning diesel fuel. Ninety per cent of human exposure to dioxins and furans is through food, she said.

She said people should avoid fatty foods and cigarette smoke, and, of course, burning garbage.