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.
A do-not-consume advisory for drinking water in Sachs Harbour, N.W.T., has been lifted in a handful of locations in the community of about 100. Meanwhile, tap water remains unsafe to drink for many, and there's still no explanation of what happened. The do-not-consume order first went into effect four weeks ago, on March 23, after the territory's chief public health officer reported a fuel smell and an oily sheen in water deliveries.
The City of Iqaluit shut down its water treatment plant Wednesday after the water was contaminated last week with fuel for the second time. The city said a breach in the system is suspected to have caused residents to smell fuel in their water, with breaches detected last week and Wednesday. The city said it is using a bypass system to pump water to residents instead and the entire territorial capital is now under a precautionary boil water advisory.
Iqaluit city officials relied too much on an initial set of negative test results at the beginning of their investigation into the city’s water supply, says Nunavut’s former deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Anne Huang. It ended up influencing how decisions were made before the public was warned the water might not be safe, she added. Huang described herself as “the lone voice” in early October calling for caution in the interpretation of early results that indicated the city’s drinking water was what the city called “satisfactory.”
