Resolute Bay set to see more water and sewer upgrades

Resolute Bay’s water and sewage system continues to move closer to the end of its long and costly rebuild, with the construction of a new water treatment plant planned for 2020.

The tiny High Arctic community of about 280, whose population explodes to 800 when the military holds exercises at its Arctic Training Centre, remains the only community in Nunavut under 2,000 with a piped water and sewage system. The territory’s other smaller communities have these services provided by water and sewer trucks.

Built in the 1970s, when planners imagined Resolute Bay’s population would someday hit 1,500, its utilidor system was built without a wastewater treatment plant.

But now, after roughly $40 million in repairs and a lot of new infrastructure, the new and improved system should be finished in 2024, according to information on the project posted on the Nunavut Impact Review Board website.

The need for repairs to Resolute Bay’s utility corridor system was first identified in Nunavut’s 2011-12 to 2013-14 capital plan at a cost of about $30 million, much of which would flow from federal programs.

However, this amount did not include that needed for some infrastructure that is now part of the project, such as a water treatment plant, to be unveiled in 2024.

This will add at least $13 million to the cost of the revamp, judging from various entries in subsequent Nunavut capital plans and according to information on the Tower Arctic Ltd. website.

The Resolute Bay project recently went through screening, now approved, by Nunavut regulators to renew and amend the Resolute Bay utilidor system water licence for the next 10 years.

The utilidor system currently includes a pump station at Char Lake, an intake pipe, a water treatment plant at Signal Hill, water distribution and sewer lines, fire hydrants, access vaults, and a macerator unit, which reduces solids to small pieces.

But age hasn’t been kind to the system.

In 2009, a team of consultants and officials from the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Community and Government Services told the Hamlet of Resolute Bay it should scrap its utilidor network or risk a “catastrophe” if the aging system was to break down during the winter.

There had already been some leaks in the utilidor pipes, leading to ice buildup during the winter.

The consultants said then that it would cost about $29.5 million to bring the hamlet’s utilidor up to par and to build a sewage lagoon.

The report prepared for the GN by Dillon Consulting Ltd. said the system had deteriorated to the point where “the system as a whole will fail.”

But people in Resolute Bay lobbied successfully to keep their utilidor system.

Tower Arctic workers dig deep to install new utilidor pipes in Resolute Bay. (Photo courtesy of Tower Arctic)

So, in 2016, all the buried pipes were replaced and the system expanded by Tower Arctic. That involved installing 89 water and sewer services to residential, commercial and municipal buildings, along with the installation of 37 access vaults for future attachments, the company said.

In 2020, the construction of the pump station at Char Lake and work on the existing water treatment plant at Signal Hill is also scheduled to get underway.

The new treatment plant should be in service in 2024. This plant will also receive trucked sewage from the airport facilities, and the airport sewage lagoon will be decommissioned soon after the new treatment plant is in service.

Documents on the NIRB website about the project said the use of the existing facilities, utilidor infrastructure and municipal roads would be unlikely to create additional negative impacts for terrestrial wildlife.

However, construction activities associated with the proposed new infrastructure and the decommissioning of the sewage lagoon could increase “auditory and visual disturbance to terrestrial wildlife.”