Gjoa Haven water crisis continues with no timeline for a fix
Residents report brown, slimy water; hamlet to bring in additional water truck to help with deliveries
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. Temporary water deliveries continue, with three trucks operating and a fourth scheduled to be flown in. (Photo by Nehaa Bimal)
A water main break in Gjoa Haven that has disrupted water delivery since mid-January remains under repair and officials say it’s too early to say when it might be fixed.
Officials are still planning how to fix the issue, said an update posted Thursday on the hamlet’s Facebook page following a meeting with Nunavut Emergency Management.
It’s been a difficult month for the community of about 1,400 people, says Greg Nahaglulik, a Gjoa Haven resident who worked for the hamlet for 22 years.
“For myself, being a fire chief in the past, we’ve had this situation happen before — not as bad as this — but by the second day, we called a state of emergency,” he said.
“I find it really frustrating that they did not do that.”
Nahaglulik said his household only regained running water two days ago, after going without for seven days.
In a Facebook post Jan. 21, the hamlet said, “There is no health and safety ‘emergency’ in the community if there is no drinking water when there is snow [to boil and drink].”
Gjoa Haven resident Greg Nahaglulik holds a cup of yellow-coloured tap water he photographed on Feb. 19. He said residents have been posting on Facebook about discoloured and foul-smelling water, and that his household has been depending on the hamlet’s water deliveries. (Photo courtesy of Greg Nahaglulik)
The break was discovered Jan. 15 in a six-kilometre-long underground main that carries water from Swan Lake to the water treatment plant, said Heather Grant, a spokesperson for Transportation and Infrastructure Nunavut, in an email.
Winter conditions make repair work particularly challenging because the insulated pipeline runs through permafrost. Temporary repairs may have a window of only a few hours before the line might freeze, she said.
Until the water main is fixed, trucks are being filled with water treated with chlorine before being delivered to homes.
Gjoa Haven has been under a boil water advisory since the water woes began.
As of Wednesday, the hamlet said it had three water trucks and three sewage trucks operating.
It’s preparing to have a fourth water truck brought in by military transport plane, although a scheduled flight Wednesday turned back due to a mechanical issue, a Facebook update said.
“I don’t know why they needed to fly one in. They already have three and a backup,” Nahaglulik said.
“Rather than having the leak fixed, they’re bringing in a new water truck.”
Based on his work with the hamlet, he said a water truck costs between $300,000 and $500,000, with additional expenses for air transport.
“If you’re flying one in, just booking the Hercules is about $60,000 off the bat, plus hourly wages and fuel,” he said.
Hamlet officials haven’t responded to Nunatsiaq News’ request for information.
“There are a lot of residents posting on Facebook that their water is brown, slimy, or smells funny,” Nahaglulik said.
The hamlet reported several sewage problems across the hamlet as well.
In its update Wednesday, it said there were 10 frozen sewage lines and two frozen sewage tanks under repair, with additional homes experiencing frozen lines.
Vacant housing units have been made available to residents affected by frozen sewage pipes, and additional plumbing support is expected to be in the community for at least three weeks.
Transportation and Infrastructure Nunavut said investigations will continue over the next four to six weeks to assess whether a temporary repair is possible.
The fact that they are spending around $1.2 million to fly a used water truck in in a Herc, is just insane. … sealift is just around the corner!!!!
Spending all this money meanwhile the town firetruck is parked frozen. No such thing as reliable service with the current sao
The rough water equivalent of snow is up to 10x difference. Meaning for 100 mL of water you need 1L of snow.
And that’s just raw melting. That does not account for evaporation from boiling for safe drinking.
Seems like the council and SAO doesnt have a clue about what to do except ignore the problem and let someone else fix their mistakes.
They had two spare water trucks, why did the management threw the spare water truck to the dump? It looks like it just needed some hoses and few minor things. What a waste of money
Thats what 150k a year positionas director of public works does when he works from home in another province. The SAO should start being accountible and stop giving jobs to people who dont even live in the north.
Imagine how many parts and mechanics could be had for a cool million bix. The gjoa haven CAO is out to lunch.
The 6km water line from Swan Lake to the community is buried. This means 365/24/7, that line needs to be maintained above freezing within permafrost.
You must have 100% reliability of your water line heating system in order to secure the community water supply using this system. There is no mechanical or electrical system yet built, no matter how well it was constructed, that is 100% reliable.
If the waterline freezes for whatever reason, you are stuck excavating frozen ground just to find out where it failed, before you can effect repairs.
If that water line was lying on the surface, the heating system only needs to work 8-9 months out of the year. You have the summer months for preventative maintenance and inspections.
If the water line was on the surface, when (not if) the heating system fails, you can easily see where it failed, and start repairing it at once without digging through ground that is the consistency of concrete.
The Hamlet is doing the best it can with the system that was designed and built for it to operate. The real question is why Nunavut designs and builds critical water lines to be buried in permafrost.
Because, once this crisis is over, the heating system on the water line is bound to fail again, and residents will have to repeat this awful experience even though they live 6 km away from a nice lake full of pristine Arctic water.
The water line seems to be running fine buried in the ground. The problem is the hamlet management doesn’t want to keep the roads cleared so the maintainers can do their jobs. The sao is hardly ever in town and the upper management are all southerners who are clueless and don’t even live in the community.
Gjoa haven hamlet needs to do better.