Gjoa Haven faces water shortages after reservoir bursts

SARA MINOGUE

People in Gjoa Haven have been conserving water since the reservoir that provides clean washing and drinking water to the community burst this past Sunday, letting most of the water rush past its banks and straight into the ocean.

“Right now, maybe we’re good for one week, two weeks, maybe a month,” said Raymond Kamookak, the hamlet’s senior administrative officer. “Our priority is to maintain services to public buildings, health centres, schools, and then houses. Our other priority is to have water available for the fire department.”

Gjoa Haven relies on the lake for all of its water, which is delivered to homes by truck. A pump house pulls fresh water from one of two points deep below the surface ice all winter.

About 10 years ago, the hamlet built a berm on the west side of the lake in order to catch more water to use in town. Kamookak, for one, never expected to see it burst.

“Everything’s covered with snow so that we thought everything was maybe already frozen in,” he said this past Tuesday.

At first glance, Kamookak blamed the weather for the break. Gjoa Haven was at -15 C this week, but the community experienced a series of freezes and thaws throughout October.

When the berm broke, most of the water flushed away, Kamookak said, leaving just two potholes about 20 feet deep.

Luckily for the hamlet, engineers were on site immediately to examine the situation.

The Nunavut Water Board is based in town, and Tom Livingstone, the regional municipal engineer for the Department of Community and Government Services, was already on the scene during the weekend.

On Tuesday, local officials were still trying to determine how much water was left in the reservoir, and were debating how best to proceed.

One option is to rebuild the berm before the winter, and then pump water from another nearby lake into Water Lake. But time is running out. The community already has snow and is freezing.

“At this time of year, it might be a problem,” Kamookak said. “We don’t think that’s possible.”

Another option is to truck water from Swann Lake, a three-mile drive from Gjoa Haven, but first a pump-house would have to be moved or built. There is already a road in place, but it would need to be ploughed.

That’s a problem,because the community’s cab dozer is completely broken down. Hamlet workers are also in the middle of installing a new transmission on the community’s front-end loader.

In the meantime, Kamookak has been on the local radio with mayor Uriash Puqiqnak, asking people to conserve water and offering tips on how to do that.

One thing is for certain — the breakdown will be costly.

“I think it’s going to be quite expensive. It’s gonna be costing over and above our regular operating budget.”