Does Gjoa Haven’s water disruption constitute an emergency?
Reluctance to declare local state of emergency signals hamlet has situation under control
Repairs to a water main break discovered Jan. 15 remain ongoing in Gjoa Haven, with Transportation and Infrastructure Nunavut saying it is too early to provide a timeline for a full fix. (File photo by Nehaa Bimal)
Boil water advisories and bottled water shipments aren’t normal, but do they constitute a “crisis?”
Gjoa Haven has been dealing with what the hamlet has called a “water service disruption” since Jan. 15, when a break was discovered in the pipe that brings water from Swan Lake to the hamlet’s treatment plant.
Nunatsiaq News used the word “crisis” in a recent headline and in a Jan. 20 story to describe the situation.
The dictionary definition — “a time of danger or great difficulty” — seemed to fit.
But Mayor Raymond Quqshuun’s recent Facebook post explaining why the hamlet council has not declared a local state of emergency led us to rethink whether crisis is the right word.
The mayor said his community of 1,500 people has faced “significant challenges” with its water system and equipment. But are significant challenges the same as great difficulties?
A local state of emergency is declared when a municipality can’t provide essential services. It gives officials powers they don’t normally possess to deal with the situation.
On Monday, the mayor reported water delivery is taking place, water dispensers for filling jugs are being set up, and a portable filtration system is on its way.
Water that is boiled for a minute — though less convenient and perhaps less appealing — is safe to drink.
Based on advice from Nunavut Emergency Management, Quqshuun said declaring a state of emergency wouldn’t lead to any additional shipments of water.
It’s surprising that Gjoa Haven hadn’t declared a state of emergency. But the mayor’s explanation makes sense.
On the other hand, officials in other northern communities have responded to similar water system challenges by declaring a state of emergency.
In December, Kugaaruk declared one after sea water flooded the hamlet’s water treatment plant. Government offices and schools were closed while the community was under a do-not-consume order. Nunavut Emergency Management arranged for bottled water shipments.
A year ago, Puvirnituq had a similar problem that led to an emergency declaration. It experienced a water shortage so dire that elders were moved south and schools were closed.
The fact that a broken pipe — a basic piece of municipal infrastructure — has forced Gjoa Haven to face “significant challenges” stands in stark contrast to the federal government’s push to build big infrastructure projects.
For a year, the federal government has talked about “supercharging” the construction of nation-building projects — ports, mines, railways and highways — to stimulate economic activity.
On Tuesday, Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon announced the federal government is now accepting applications from companies that want a portion of its $1-billion Arctic Infrastructure Fund.
Meanwhile, Gjoa Haven waits for warmer weather when the ground can thaw long enough to repair its pipe so its residents can have treated water to drink.
There’s a lot we don’t know about what’s going on in Gjoa Haven. How significant are the challenges? How long can it go on before the difficulties are considered to be too great?
That’s why we need to hear from people in Gjoa Haven. Reporter Nehaa Bimal has been following the story.
Sharing information with other Nunavummiut and other Canadians helps them understand what — if anything — needs to be done to help.
It is an emergency. Access to clean drinking water is a right. Meanwhile, look South at Neskantaga in Ontario where they are one of many communities with boil water advisories that have gone on for AGES. So enraging.
Unfortunately with lawsuits happening over this, i doubt many people will or can speak up without fear of reprisal.
When looking at the problem of Boil Water Advisories (BWA) in Nunavut, we can see there is a continuous and serious waste of territorial funds as well as a wholly unacceptable health risk, for which we have become all too complacent about.
We can calculate the real cost of BWAs beyond the inconvenience to Nunavummiut daily to boil the three litres per person daily.
The “Real Cost” of a Boil Water Advisory (BWA) is not just a measured in the cost of electricity; it is an aggregate of energy inefficiency, healthcare strain, and lost human capital. Lets consider a simple cost calculation as follows, using a four-tier logic:
1. Thermodynamics: To make 3 liters (daily adult requirement) of water safe to drink from 5 degrees Celsius tap water to start, it requires 0.39 kWh of energy just to raise the water to a boil and then another 0.13 kWh to boil it long enough to ensure its safe.
2. Infrastructure Failure: Unlike southern Canada, where 87% of advisories are precautionary, Nunavut’s advisories are largely due to mechanical failure, caused by the fact that 85% of water facilities are in “poor condition.” This results in long-term advisories lasting months, not days. The other leading cause is due to raw water turbidity which can be effectively addressed by process design.
3. Energy Inefficiency: In a diesel-dependent territory, boiling water is the equivalent of burning roughly 0.13 liters of diesel per person, per day.
4. Medical Backstop: When infrastructure fails, the cost is shifted to the Department of Health, where a single medevac flight—the only solution for severe waterborne complications—costs between $25,000 and $55,000.
So, to summarize a Territory wide aggregate cost, based on a population of of 42,000, who face BWAs 15% of the time, is on average:
1. Direct Power Cost- $725,000.00 based on residential electricity rates of $0.354 per kWh,
2. Diesel fuel consumption at the power plants- 290,000 Litres per year along with the added carbon footprint and the risk of delivery to the local environment,
3. Medical Transportation due to water quality caused issues- $6-$14.0 M
4. Lost time due to baby sitting boiling water- $16.0 M
That adds up to an estimated annual cost impact of $23-$31M plus per year.
This expenditure represents nearly 80% of the cost of a new Water Treatment Plant for the territory to replace old inefficient existing infrastructure- a more productive use of Nunavummiut’s money.
Its time for a call to action and make the shift from operational spending to capital expenditure to address the quality and reliability of our existing Water Treatment program:
1. Accelerate Capital Investment; Partner with, and prioritize the $70M annual Inuit-led infrastructure fund to move from reactive repairs to proactive builds,
2. Infrastructure as Healthcare; Reclassification of water treatment projects as ‘preventive healthcare’, to access federal medical- transfer savings.
3. Waste Heat Recovery; maximize water treatment plants efficiency and process reliability by integrating heat recovery loops in Community Generation stations to temper raw water in treatment plants to reduce cost to run, and the process reliability of our Water Treatment Plants.
We don’t need to bear the risk and cost of the “Boil Water Tax.” It is time to shift our fiscal priority from paying for the symptoms of failure, to investing in the foundations of Arctic health and sustainability.
The hamlet of gjoa is turning into a wonder. Everyday we wonder what buildings will be closed. They are holding a meeting with government officials and its so bad here they cant even plan what building it will be in.