A temporary pipeline running through Puvirnituq leaves the community in a “precarious position” until a permanent solution is found, says Kativik Regional Government chairperson Hilda Snowball. Earlier in May, the exposed pipeline was damaged by a snowmobile. (Photo courtesy of Kativik Regional Government/Patrick Desteredjian)
Puvirnituq water repairs could cost millions, take another year to fix: KRG public works director
If protective coating for heating cable can’t be found, system might have to be redesigned
Permanent repairs to Puvirnituq’s damaged water system could cost more and take longer to carry out than originally expected, says Kativik Regional Government’s public works director.
A state of emergency that was declared in the Nunavik community over its water crisis ended June 6, after 20 days. It was spurred by a break in the main pipeline that brings water from the river to the treatment plant in the village.
Authorities are having difficulty sourcing a heating cable that’s an important part of the repair job, Hossein Shafeghati, KRG’s public works director, said in an interview Wednesday.
“It is a bit difficult to source; it is a particular cable design that in the past 20 years we have only found one manufacturer for it in the world,” he said.
The cable uses a particular coating made by another manufacturer. The coating allows the cable to withstand extreme temperature swings, maintains flexibility, and doesn’t contaminate water.
But the cable manufacturer in England has been unable to obtain the coating, as many sources have stopped production.
Without the cable, Shafeghati said, the entire water system will need to be redesigned.
That means a repair that would typically cost approximately $300,000 and be finished by the end of summer could instead balloon to between $5 million and $10 million and take another year to complete.
The water crisis in the community of about 2,100 people started in mid-March. The heating cable that snakes through the entire five kilometres of water pipe from the river to the treatment plant failed, and the pipe froze.
Sometime after that, a bulldozer ran over a different section of the pipe, further damaging the water line.
After that happened, untreated water had to be trucked to the village. That effort was hampered by winter conditions and some of the water trucks being out of service.
A boil water advisory was issued March 18, and Puvirnituq Mayor Lucy Qalingo declared the state of emergency on May 17.
Canadian Rangers were deployed to help the community and a temporary bypass was installed on May 21, according to a report by KRG chairperson Hilda Snowball to the regional government’s council on May 29.
During the water shortage, the Inuulitsivik Health Centre relocated its patients and Sailivik long-term-care elders facility residents south to hospitals in Montreal, accompanied by nurses.
“We are still in the process of planning and arranging the return of patients in the near future,” Felicia Potvin, communications adviser for Inuulitsivik Health Centre, said in an email to Nunatsiaq News on Thursday.
The total cost of temporary repairs was just over $453,000, Snowball said in the report. However, she said, the temporary repair leaves the hamlet in “a precarious position.”
“It’s a precarious position because that temporary bypass pipeline, that is [above] ground, it’s vulnerable to physical damage,” Shafeghati said Wednesday.
The temporary bypass is not temperature-proofed, he noted. That means that if the water pipe system does need to be redesigned and if that work can’t be finished until next year, a second temporary solution will need to be found that can withstand winter conditions.
Is it possible for someone to check with Raglan Mine?
There is a piping system with heat trace that moves water on the surface between Qakimayuk and Anuri, 2 mines.
The fear of , no hot shower in the morning, no flushing toilet , in the middle of winter, looks like , a scene from a horror movie.
Give the bill to Pita Aatami. He can afford to pay it.
Desalination. A whole ocean of water is at Puvirnituq’s doorsteps with modern technology distillation and reverse osmosis.
I would think that the engineers would have already thought about having water continually circulating from the source to the filling station in freezing temps. A lower volume well insulated return line would do. If there is a constant flow, then there are no frozen lines.
Whoever idea it is to put water pipes in these small towns is smokin all the good stuff