Fix for water leak to cost almost $600,000
City reservoir losing 35 cubic metres of treated water a day
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Thursday, March 23, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city's potable water reservoir has been leaking since January and city councillors want to spend nearly $600,000 to fix it right away.
Coun. Shauna Morgan, left, said Monday a leaky reservoir at the city's water treatment plant should be fixed immediately. To her right is Coun. Steve Payne. - Kirsten Fenn/NNSL photo
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"It costs money to treat water," Coun. Shauna Morgan said during Monday's Municipal Services Committee meeting at city hall. "So we're losing money as well."
The leak amounts to a loss of 35 cubic metres of water per day from the 26-year-old reservoir - or about 0.4 per cent of the city's daily water consumption, according to a memorandum presented to council.
While the leak doesn't impact the quality of the drinking water produced at the plant, "we do not know at this point what the potential impact could be of this leak, structurally, on the reservoir," said Sheila Bassi-Kellett, the city's senior administrative officer.
The leak at reservoir one, which is located at the city's water treatment plant, was caused by a buildup of ice at the bottom of the slope below the plant, she said.
In 2013, the same thing happened to reservoir three, prompting the city to repair it.
The department of Public Works and Engineering is now recommending the current leak be fixed as soon as possible. Representatives from the department urged city council to spend $596,870 plus GST to have Proform Concrete Services patch up the leak.
The reservoir would first have to be drained and tested to find the leak. Then the company would line the walls and floor of the reservoir with a repairing compound.
The money for the project would come from the city's capital fund, according to the memorandum.
"We don't want to delay this for a long period of time, which would of course require additional intake coming into the reservoirs," Bassi-Kellett said. "We do have limits in our water licence in terms of the overall amount of water that we're able to draw from."
Waiting to deal with the leak could also "pose a risk to the structural integrity of the reservoir itself," she said.
Coun. Niels Konge said it's unfortunate the repairs have come up after the city's budget was completed, "but that is how things go."
He agreed a fix is needed right away.
"Water is one of the main priorities that a city has to provide to its citizens, so we need to protect those investments," Konge said.
The fact the water in the reservoir is already treated simply "adds to the urgency," Morgan said.
"I do agree this is something we need to address immediately," she said.
Mayor Mark Heyck said council would bring a motion forward to council on the issue in a week's time.
