Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Aklavik has begun delivering water again after a software problem affecting a computer at the hamlet’s water plant was resolved. A system error earlier this week meant the hamlet could not monitor water quality and, as a result, trucks were told to stop delivering water to homes, acting senior administrator Tom Ng said on Wednesday. Initially, technicians in British Columbia had struggled to fix the error remotely.
Excessive snowpack and high water levels have communities across the N.W.T. at risk of flooding once again this spring. This includes Hay River, Kátł'odeeche First Nation, Nahanni Butte, Fort Liard, Fort Simpson, Aklavik, Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Jean Marie River First Nation. The N.W.T. government released a technical report on Monday which said there is potential for spring breakup flooding once again this spring.
The hamlet of Aklavik, N.W.T., is still on high alert as water levels continue to waver, says Mayor Andrew Charlie on Monday. "Water levels are still kind of high," Charlie said. "It's dropped for a bit and then it comes up a bit, drops again." He says many of the roads are still above water, since in the past, the community had elevated some of the roads. However, a few were still submerged as of Monday morning, including a service road to the community's dump. "People are still getting around," Charlie said.
A state of emergency has been declared in Aklavik, N.W.T., after water started rising over the road that leads to the hamlet's dump, according to a statement issued by its mayor and council overnight. Residents would start being evacuated from their homes Sunday morning between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. local time, the statement said. The remote community of roughly 600 people has been on flood watch for about a week and is the latest of several communities in the Northwest Territories to be affected by historic flooding on the Mackenzie River, caused by the spring breakup.
