SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife MLA is calling for updated arsenic testing of lakes around the city after a health advisory released Monday using decades-old data showed arsenic levels in Kam Lake are more than 50 times the federal guideline for safe drinking water.
The NWT's chief public health officer released a public health advisory Monday warning residents not to drink from, swim, fish or eat wild berries or edible plants at Kam Lake, above, due to its high concentration of arsenic. |
According to the advisory, Health Canada deems water safe for drinking if the concentration of arsenic is less than 10 parts per billion. The advisory shows arsenic levels in Kam Lake are more than 500 parts per billion.
Residents are warned to avoid drinking water from, swimming, fishing or harvesting nearby berries or edible plants at Kam Lake.
A similar health advisory released last April showed several lakes around Yellowknife contain higher than normal arsenic levels but contained no information about Kam Lake at the time.
"Since then, we have found some data from 1989 Š where they had done some testing of the (Kam Lake) water and sediment," said Andre Corriveau, the territory's chief public health officer.
He said he wanted to update last year's health advisory to make it more complete.
Although the data isn't new in fact, it's nearly 30 years old Corriveau said it's unlikely the lake would be back to pristine conditions today even if arsenic levels have diminished.
"At this point, it's the best data we have," he said, adding he would like to see new testing done.
Outdated information isn't good enough for Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart, who pushed cabinet members to address the issue at the legislative assembly in February.
When Environment and Natural Resources Minister Robert C. McLeod told Testart no environmental assessment had been performed for Kam Lake, the MLA then directed questions to the health minister to see if this could be changed.
Health minister Glen Abernethy said that would be up to the environment department, but suggested people "might want to be cautious about drinking the water out of Kam Lake" given its history.
The lake is located near the former Con gold mine.
Yellowknifer had requested an interview last week with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to discuss arsenic testing at Kam Lake, but an interview was not granted.
Instead, spokesperson Judy McLinton stated via e-mail the department would not be testing for arsenic in Kam Lake, but that Miramar Northern Mining Ltd. is required to test its water quality during its remediation of Con Mine.
She said that information is available on the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board's public registry. Yellowknifer could not find any easily accessible information about arsenic levels in Kam Lake through the database.
"We need to do a better job of communicating that to the public," said Testart about making information about arsenic levels available to residents. "And having testing done on the lakes that people live next to, I think, is sound public policy."
He said it's time to "get on it" if it's been decades since the last tests were done, adding things have changed "significantly" since then.
Testart said tests should be done not just in his own riding, but on all lakes around the city as climate change could be impacting their health as well.
According to the health advisory, a remediation team is planning three human health studies "to determine the health risks from arsenic contamination associated with Giant Mine."
Testart said he plans to further question ministers on arsenic testing during the next legislative assembly sitting in May.
