Cape Dorset rations water after pipe freezes up

The Hamlet of Cape Dorset continues to ask residents to conserve water, in the wake of two frozen water pipes that have severely hampered municipal water deliveries, Cape Dorset’s SAO, Olayuk Akesuk, said Feb. 10.

“We’re doing our best to get the water line fixed,” Akesuk said.

The problem started Feb. 8, when the community’s backup water line, a two-inch pipe, froze up.

The hamlet responded by reducing water deliveries to 500 litres per household, Olayuk said.

But those deliveries stopped when the amount of water at the community’s reservoir fell to the minimum level required to cope with a possible fire.

The hamlet has been using the two-inch pipe for most of the winter because the main line, a three-inch pipe that froze up last winter, cannot be used due to a faulty heat trace.

Akesuk said the hamlet is working with Government of Nunavut staff to get the two-inch pipe fixed as soon as possible so that 500-litre deliveries can resume.

“We’re trying to maintain good communications with the public,” Akesuk said.

The entire community is served by trucked water delivery.