Car washing allowed in Iqaluit as council lifts 7-year ban
Water supply issues that led to 2018 conservation measure have improved, city says
A City of Iqaluit-imposed ban on washing cars with water from the city’s supply is no longer in effect following a vote from council Tuesday. (File photo)
After seven years, Iqaluit councillors voted Tuesday to repeal a city-imposed car wash ban.
The measure, which prohibited residents from washing their cars with water from the city’s supply, was implemented in 2018 due to shortages in the Lake Geraldine reservoir.
Conditions have improved since then, said Steve England, the city’s chief administrative officer.
“I want to thank the residents of the city for continuing to do excellent job with managing the water supply,” England said.
The city’s public works staff have done a “tremendous” amount of work to address older leaks in Iqaluit’s water system, and are getting quicker at detecting newer ones, all while working with contractors to repair and replace aging infrastructure, he added.
Recent data indicate Iqaluit has had more than 600 days of water are available at various points throughout the year, a city staff report said.
Bill Williams, the city’s director of municipal infrastructure, assured councillors that daily monitoring and weekly reporting on the city’s water supply would continue.
Also, the city could reinstate the car wash ban, if needed.
With only four councillors — Amber Aglukark, Romeyn Stevenson, Harry Flaherty and Methusalah Kunuk, in the chamber — as well as Mayor Solomon Awa, the approval to lift the ban was unanimous.
Approval is effective immediately, England said, adding the city will send out a public service announcement within a week.
Will the data be available to public for the sake of transparency? I am wondering how much water was saved in those 7 years of hiatus….
I am wondering if city has considered creating water reservoir to combat house fires instead of using treated water. Almost every year there is now fires and I am sure it puts a huge dent on treated water supply. Perhaps this could be for other industrial use such as car washing etc…
Just a thought
Though a thoughtful idea, the implementation of a separate water system would never work. The firetrucks can hold a certain amount of water, after that they hook up to the city’s water system. What you’re suggesting would mean having dedicated hook up points throughout the city or using a water truck as the backup source. If a water truck were used it would need to be cleaned and treated after every fire since it wasn’t using treated water and that would affect water delivery.
It’s possible the city just have to give the oldest water truck or two old water truck to be use with the recycled water
Its wonderful to see 7 huge apartment complexes being built in the city plus the healing and elder care facility. Will this impact our water supply? And how are we addressing that as a city?