Nunavut hamlet looks for solutions after sewage truck breakdowns

Residents of Coral Harbour have had to get creative with ways to collect sewage in recent weeks, like this attempt to use a Shop-Vac to suck sewage into a tank strapped into the back of a pick-up truck. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

The Hamlet of Coral Harbour has scrambled over the last few weeks to repair and replace its two broken-down sewage trucks to maintain service to the Kivalliq community of about 1,000 people.

The first of the hamlet’s two trucks went out some time before Christmas, when a casual driver employed by the hamlet decided to go off-roading.

“That one’s a goner,” said Coral Harbour mayor Jackie Netser. “So then we were on one sewage truck, when its motor decided to go on us.”

The hamlet and other organizations have had to get creative this month, and work with equipment available in the community.

The hamlet’s mechanic first attempted to move a sewage tank into an old dump truck to collect sewage, Netser said, but that ran into problems a few days after it started operating.

Other organizations have rigged sewage pumps on the back of pick-up trucks as a short term solution: one resident secured a 250-gallon tank on the back of his truck and attached it a Shop-Vac to suck the waste.

“The guy ended up making a couple of bucks with private homeowners,” Netser said. “There were a few smiles here and there.”

When tanks weren’t getting emptied fast enough last week, another organization handed out honey buckets to some households, including elders.

But now the hamlet has succeeded in converting a new dump truck model into a functioning sewage truck, Netser said, with two drivers doing a day a night shift.

One of the broken trucks is waiting on a motor, which should arrive in the coming days, he said.

“Fortunately for us, it hasn’t been too bad,” Netser said. “We’ve had some freezing up, but nothing major.”

But sewage disposal is an issue that regularly impacts communities that reply on trucked water and sewage services. Just last winter, the hamlet of Pond Inlet declared a state of emergency after two of the community’s sewage trucks broke down.

Maintaining sewage trucks has been an ongoing issue in many Nunavik communities too.

Replacing a truck in the middle of winter isn’t an option, or at least it’s “not cheap,” said Netser.

Coral Harbour is at least fortunate that the hamlet employs a local mechanic, who can help replace the motor of one of its trucks once the part arrives, he said.