Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Friday, July 14, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
One city councillor says the city needs more information about the health of Jackfish Lake if it wants to incorporate it in plans to improve the capital area, but city staff say that's out of their jurisdiction.
"We're setting off on a comprehensive plan for the capital area to make it an attractive area of the city, make it tourism friendly, make it a good place to live," said Coun. Shauna Morgan, speaking about why she brought the issue to the city's municipal services committee earlier this spring.
The capital area encompasses land between Old Airport Road, Highway 3, 48 Street and Franklin Avenue, as well as Jackfish Lake and Frame Lake.
The city's plan lists a number of initiatives, including one at the Jackfish Lake look-out point with a goal "to support recreational and tourism amenities, such as aurora viewing and fishing."
"If we're trying to promote that area as part of our capital area," said Morgan, "we should make sure that we have information on if there's any contamination in Jackfish Lake, is it safe to fish."
During a municipal services committee meeting this spring, senior administrative officer Sheila Bassi-Kellett said the city does not have information on water quality or fish health at Jackfish Lake.
The GNWT is responsible for collecting that data. According to a GNWT health advisory released this April, arsenic levels in Jackfish Lake are at least 50 times the safe drinking water level set out by Health Canada.
The advice warns residents to avoid fishing, swimming or harvesting food at Jackfish Lake, adding fish from the lake should not be consumed.
Judy McLinton, spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, stated in an e-mail the department is conducting a summer water sampling program that involves testing at the lake.
The department confirmed the presence of blue-green algae in Jackfish Lake in 2014, she said.
Freshwater algae blooms are associated with increased nutrient concentrations in water, such as phosphorus, stated McLinton.
Yellowknifer did not receive a response from the department when it requested more detail about the sampling and algae.
The recent NWT public health advisory warns residents some algae contains toxins and causes bad rashes.
"As a precautionary measure, people should wear gloves when handling fish from any lake where blue-green algae (is) visibly present," states the advisory.
Alberta Health Services' website warns residents to avoid contact with blue-green algae or swimming in a lake where it is present. It adds people should not eat whole fish from lakes with blue-green algae as fish may store toxins in their liver.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has suggested in the past the algae at Jackfish Lake could be caused by runoff from the Yellowknife landfill. But Dennis Kefalas, director of public works and engineering, said "there's no evidence" to support that, based on the city's testing.
"There's a couple locations where we'd draw samples around the landfill and one is leading from the landfill down toward Jackfish Lake," he said. "There hasn't been any runoff associated with those sampling points."
He said any other testing regarding Jackfish Lake would be outside the city's jurisdiction.
Morgan said she has seen people going to fish at Jackfish Lake and wanting to enjoy the lake and the view. This is why, she said, the city needs to be clear about what the state of the lake.
"I just wanted to know - what is our baseline understanding of how that lake is doing?" she said.
"Then we can decide how to move forward."
