Investigation follows letter in Nunatsiaq News from resident who blames sewage for illness

Indian and Northern Affairs will investigate complaints that sewage spilling into Baker Lake is making residents sick.

Michael Nadler, INAC's regional director for Nunavut, said federal inspectors were to arrive in Baker Lake this past week to test the hamlet's water for organic and metal contaminants.

"The lab is testing for any number of things," Nadler said. "It could be metals in the water, contaminants in the water, bacteria in the water. It's very broad."

The department responded after reading a letter in Nunatsiaq News from Baker Lake resident Joan Scottie.

Scottie complained of coming down with diarrhea after drinking water from the lake. She said the town's dump and sewage lagoon are located on a slope near the lake and overflow during spring runoff.

In an email interview, Scottie said she's glad INAC is investigating her complaint.

"I was really sick," Scottie wrote. "It took more than a week to get it out of my system. Now my 92-year-old mother is sick. I'm just disappointed that we have to be sick in order to get attention to get something done."

Scottie also said she's concerned that the dozens of barges hauling supplies for the area's numerous mining camps are leaking oil into the lake. And she thinks the hamlet should move the sewage lagoon to a new site away from the lake.

David Aksawnee, Baker Lake's mayor, said the Department of Community and Government Services plans to build three dikes around the lagoon to curb runoff.

He said the hamlet would wait for the results of INAC's tests before considering whether to move the lagoon, which is located in a valley just north of town.

"For the size of the community the lagoon we have up there is too small now," he said.

And Aksawnee said he hasn't heard any reports from the local health centre about people getting sick from their drinking water.

Nadler said INAC inspectors visit Baker Lake once a year, typically in the summer, to test water in the lake. And he's is quick to point out that the department's tests have never revealed health risks in Baker Lake's water supply.

"They've always been within national standards for quality," he said.

Nadler said he expects to get results from the tests back within a few weeks.