IGLULIK
"Ugly" organisms with long tails swimming in Iglulik tap water and foul smells emanating from the community's regular water source have led the hamlet to act first and worry about the cost later to fix the problem.
An Iglulik resident found this organism in her sink in the elders' units. The flatworm measured about 10-centimetres long, including its stringy tail, not pictured. The hamlet's senior administrative officer says they are not hazardous to humans. - photo courtesy of Priscilla Stacey |
"We're not too worried about costs right now," said Brian Flemming, senior administrative officer with the hamlet. "We're just trying to get the community re-supplied with water. We'll worry about bills later."
Getting the water re-supplied means the hamlet is laying out a 13-kilometre pipe to transfer water from Fish Lake, located across the harbour on the other side of the island. The hamlet's regular water source, South Lake, located about five kilometres south of the community, is exhibiting a foul odour this month caused by gases released from organic matter in the water that get trapped by the crust of ice.
A new species of problem appeared when the hamlet first began trucking water from Fish Lake earlier this month. The hose feeding the water trucks had no filter, which resulted in a type of flatworm called a fluke to show up in residents' tap water.
"There was no screen on the hose to the water truck, so we've probably sucked up a few of these," said Flemming, adding the pipeline includes a mesh screen to filter out solids. "When we start pumping the water, that won't be a problem."
Priscilla Stacey posted a picture of the flatworm to Facebook.
"We don't know exactly where it came from," Stacey told Nunavut News/North. "My sister found it in their sink. The sink clogged from it and she took it out. It was taken to the hamlet garage for investigation but it was just thrown out."
Her photo got dozens of shares and expressions of disgust from commenters. The flatworm measures about 10 centimetres, including its long tail.
"There are many variations of these flukes," said Flemming. "As far as I know they're not hazardous. They're ugly as hell but they're not hazardous to human health."
The temporary pipeline is designed to top up the community's reservoir, located about two-and-a-half kilometres southwest of the community near the airport.
The pipe is expected to remain atop the sea ice for about two-and-a-half weeks, said Flemming, after which it will be dismantled as the ice melts.
The reservoir has shown low water levels for the past two years. The long, cool spring this year meant the ice in the reservoir did not melt fast enough to replace the water used by the community.
"The last couple of years, the reservoir's always been pretty low this time of the year," he said.
The water pipeline is a better method than the two 2,800-litre water trucks previously used to transport water from Fish Lake, said Flemming, due to the distance the vehicles needed to travel around the harbour.
The hamlet recently issued a boil water advisory, which extends to ice blocks people use for drinking water.
"The community's been really good, really co-operative during this situation and I hope we'll get back to an unrestricted water use policy as soon as possible," said Flemming.
As the reservoir is refilled, turbidity levels will require the boil water order to persist for a while longer, he added.
