Gjoa Haven water main fixed 5 months after leak discovered

Repairs to a broken water main that left Gjoa Haven under a boil water advisory for five months have been completed, the deputy mayor announced Wednesday. 

“This is a first step to allowing us to return to normal water delivery services and put this challenging winter behind us,” Christine Porter wrote on Facebook yesterday. 

The community of about 1,500 people remains under a boil water advisory, however, while government officials complete flushing, testing and other procedures before determining whether water from the system is safe to drink without boiling.

The advisory has been in place since Jan. 15, when a leak was discovered in a six-kilometre underground water main that carries water from Swan Lake to the community’s water treatment plant. 

Heather Grant, a spokesperson for Nunavut’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, previously told Nunatsiaq News that winter conditions complicated repair efforts because the insulated pipeline runs through permafrost.

The “severe” break was found “at the flanged joint between the water main pipe and an access vault pipe,” Grant wrote in an earlier email.

A close-up of the severe break at the flanged joint between the water main pipe and access vault pipe that led to the leak in the underground line connecting Swan Lake to the Gjoa Haven water treatment plant. (Photo courtesy of Hamlet of Gjoa Haven)

Temporary repairs could only be attempted during short windows before the line risked freezing again.

Since the water line break, water trucks have been filled with chlorinated water drawn from a lake pumphouse and delivered directly to homes, while residents were instructed to boil water before consumption.

Residents could also pick up free drinking water supplied through Nunavut Emergency Management and distributed through local stores.

Repair crews began work on June 13 and completed the repairs by Monday afternoon, after waiting for warmer temperatures and thawed ground conditions, according to Facebook posts from the hamlet.

Porter wrote on Facebook that water and sewage trucks will continue operating on day and night shifts while the Government of Nunavut’s department of health and transportation determines when the treatment plant can resume regular operations.

“The Department of Health will advise when it is safe to consume the water without boiling,” she said, adding that, until then, water and sewage truck drivers will draw water from the pumphouse. 

Porter thanked hamlet employees, including mechanics, drivers, dispatchers and public works staff, for working around the clock to maintain water deliveries despite equipment breakdowns and difficult conditions.

“While services have not been perfect, there have been many people working around the clock to provide the best services possible,” she said.

Hamlet officials were unavailable to talk to Nunatsiaq News at this time.

Chief administrative officer Jennifer Wakegijig said in an email that they would have more to share once territorial officials give them an update on the water treatment plant and lifting the boil water advisory.