Nunavut community’s sewage will flow into the sea until water licence clears

Unexplained delays in construction to Naujaat’s sewage lagoon are causing the community’s raw sewage to continue pouring into the sea, says Steve Mapsalak, MLA for Aivilik.

Sewage from the small hamlet, which has just over 1,000 residents, empties into a makeshift pond, “and then starts flowing out into the sea,” Mapsalak told Nunatsiaq News.

Naujaat — which used to be known as Repulse Bay — is located on a bay between Foxe Basin and Hudson Bay in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region.

Mapsalak pointed out March 12 in the legislative assembly that leaders in his home community thought the lagoon was going to be completed last year at a cost of $5.1 million, provided by the federal government’s gas tax fund.

“Can the minister provide an update on the status of the sewage lagoon?” the MLA asked Tom Sammurtok, minister of Community and Government Services.

The minister confirmed the project costs and source of funding, “but as of this date, only a small portion of the funds have been used primarily for the design and blueprint production phase,” Sammurtok said.

Construction can’t get underway until the federal government grants a water license to the municipality, he said.

“Once we get the water licence, we will be able to start the project,” Sammurtok said.

Mapsalak said he hopes work will begin this summer, but the minister couldn’t make any promises.

The MLA said March 13 he’s wondering how much money has been spent so far on the project and what it’s been used for. “I still need to get more answers.”

Sammurtok’s department, which maintains water and waste management infrastructure in Nunavut’s small communities, has acknowledged that most of the territory’s 24 hamlets don’t have valid water licenses.

The minister recently announced that Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada withdrew warning letters from five communities that were not complying with their water permits.

Mapsalak said he doesn’t know how the status of Naujaat’s water permit compares with other communities.

“Why isn’t [our lagoon] a priority, when sewage is flowing to the sea?” he said.