MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Pond Inlet declared a state of emergency Feb. 10 in hopes the government will help clear a backlog of sewage that MLA Joe Enook says is overflowing from residents' holding tanks into their homes.
Pond Inlet is under a state of emergency as it struggles to clear sewage tanks with one old sewage truck. Two newer trucks, still estimated to be 30-years old, are disabled, and the reverse gear does not work in another truck. - NNSL file photo |
"I haven't gone and counted how many are in each house affected, but I know of two houses where they have had to go and live with families while the housing guy (clears) out their sewage tanks," Enook said, adding the sewage overflows and then the tanks freeze. "Apparently there have been houses where sewage has leaked into the house."
The hamlet declared its state of emergency after submitting a letter to the Nunavut government stating it was needed for the "entire community of Pond Inlet" because of "lack of sewage pump-out due to equipment failure, raw sewage overflow onto the ground, causing health issues, spread of bacteria."
"The health department is concerned," deputy mayor Joshua Arreak said. "These overflows outside the houses are not healthy. If you're taking that stuff inside your house, it's a health issue."
Mayor Charlie Innuarak was out of town and unavailable to speak to the situation.
The town has four sewage trucks, none of them new. One has a broken engine, another a broken transmission, a third has no reverse gear but remains on the road and the fourth, which is the smallest and the oldest, is now running almost 24 hours a day to clear as many tanks as it can handle.
A Community and Government Services mechanic arrived Feb. 11 to evaluate the situation.
As of Friday, the mechanic was able to repair the truck that was unable to reverse and it is back on the road. A transmission has been ordered for the third truck, and the mechanic had determined that the truck with a failed engine did not require a whole new engine, rather new pistons and other parts. CGS is ordering these parts, some of which have to come from Mexico.
Two trucks, worth between $200,000 and $300,000 each, are booked to arrive on the summer sealift. The hamlet council hoped the state of emergency would prompt the government to fly up at least one truck on a Hercules. Assistant Deputy Minister for Community Services Darren Flynn said it is not an option.
"These trucks are not readily available," Flynn said, noting Nunavut-ready trucks require special fittings to function in the extreme conditions. "You can't drive down to Wal-Mart and pick one of these things out. Generally you need anywhere from nine to 12 months lead time from ordering one of these trucks."
"We've had a situation for almost two months where we've had incredible breakdowns in our sewage trucks and initially in our water trucks, but right now we have serious problems with the lack of sewage trucks," Enook said. "There have been days where there has been absolutely no service because of the machines breaking down."
He expressed concern about the health situation, adding residents are warned daily to wash their hands to prevent spreading disease during flu season and then are told to conserve water due to the current situation. Any water going down the drain ends up in the sewage tanks, exacerbating the problem. Enook praised the employees of the hamlet and the housing authority, who are working around the clock to stop the situation from getting worse and working to clean up overflow. He was told 58 houses have had raw sewage overflow into their homes.
"For the life of me, I don't know why this wasn't declared an emergency a month-and-a-half ago," he said. "Once the issue of the sewage trucks is resolved, we have this big issue of how do we clean it up. We're really between a rock and a hard place."
