Water is safe to drink despite safety violations: Minister
GN set to spend $127M over next 3 years on water treatment plant upgrades and replacements
The GN is set to spend $127 million in multiple communities on water treatment plant upgrades, Community and Government Services Minister David Joanasie said on Wednesday. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Community and Government Services Minister David Joanasie assured MLAs Wednesday that Nunavut’s municipal water is safe to drink, despite 17 out of 25 water treatment plants not passing recent health and safety inspections.
His comments in the legislative assembly came in response to questions from Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster, who said the state of Nunavut’s water infrastructure came up last week in the House of Commons.
“I sincerely thank the member for New Westminster-Burnaby for taking some of his valuable house time to address this issue,” she said.
Peter Julian, a New Democrat from B.C., echoed a report published by Nunatsiaq News last week and called for urgent action from the federal government to ensure Nunavut communities have clean drinking water.
The 17 water treatment plants that didn’t pass the inspections all had health or safety deficiencies, according to territorial government health inspection reports obtained by access to information law.
Three communities are under order from the Department of Health’s public health division to fix water-treatment deficiencies.
The territory’s water treatment “infrastructure deficit” is $605 million, according to Nunavut’s 2023 Drinking Water Strategic Framework, cited in the article.
Joanasie acknowledged the state of the territory’s water infrastructure has been a recurring theme for MLAs during this sitting and agreed it should be a priority for funding.
Many of Nunavut’s water treatment plants do not meet standards set out in the federal government’s Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, he said.
That said, the water produced in every water treatment plant is tested daily for chlorine, turbidity, and harmful microbes.
The water meets “the maximum acceptable concentration for microbiological and chemical parameters,” Joanasie said.
The Department of Community and Government Services provided Nunatsiaq News with a risk assessment for every community’s water treatment plant.
This assessment states the capabilities of six treatment plants or pumphouses — in Clyde River, Coral Harbour, Arctic Bay, Kimmirut, Kinngait and Pangnirtung — do not meet federal water quality guidelines.
Other risks noted in the assessment include inconsistent filtration and treatment in Taloyoak; water treatment facility and quality concerns in Kugluktuk; issues with ultraviolet treatment in Arviat; and water quality and advisory concerns in Baker Lake, Igloolik, Gjoa Haven and Sanikiluaq.
“We are trying to address many water treatment plant upgrades or replacements,” Joanasie said.
Every single community is recommended to make a business case for a new or upgraded water treatment plant, or to continue with upgrades or replacements, according to the risk assessment. The exception is Whale Cove, which just received a new plant.
Over the next three years, the GN is set to spend $127 million in multiple communities on those upgrades, according to Joanasie.
The Government of Canada also recently announced $2 million to allow Igloolik, Coral Harbour and Clyde River to develop proposals for upgrades to their water treatment plants.
“It’s hard to think of a more fundamental function of government than the provision of safe water to our citizens,” Brewster said Wednesday in the legislative assembly.
Water is safe to drink.? His facial expression says otherwise 😆
It’s ironic that he claims the water is safe to drink, yet I’m certain he drinks filtered, bottled water at home and wouldn’t allow his children to drink directly from the tap.
Nunavumiut often suffer from stomach bacterial infections, and I’m sure most of them get them from drinking tap water despite their Minister’s assurance that it’s safe.
I know a few healthy young individuals who have died from stomach cancer. Could it be from the unfiltered water they drink, even though the Minister, Mr. Joanasie, claims it’s safe to drink?
Yes, H. pylori infection can lead to cancer in some cases. H. pylori is a type of bacteria that infects the stomach and can cause ulcers, inflammation, and damage to the stomach lining. These changes can increase the risk of developing stomach cancer, especially in the lower part of the stomach. H. pylori infection is also associated with some types of stomach lymphoma. The World Health Organization classifies H. pylori as a human carcinogen.
That is a theory, if there are cases of stomach cancer. Before I’d blame the water though, I’d look to the Pepsi and chips and snuff and cigarettes though before I’d blame the water.
Mean while, how many Rez’s don’t even have drinking water available?
I suggest that you ask ‘the Rez’s’ what they’ve done with the hundreds of millions funneled to them for clean drinking water infrastructure. The waste, fraud, and misappropriation would make your eyes water.
Cambridge had.a 12 million water treatment plant built. Yet the tap.water is disgusting.
Reminds me of years ago when Gjoa Haven had bloodworms. Dept of Health and CGS Ministers all said water was safe to drink
Gjoa MLA brought bottled water from Gjoa to the Ledge for Ministers to drink, nobody wanted to.
David Joanasie might want to ask Kenny Bell how it went when Bell claimed that Iqaluit’s water was safe to drink
Bell gave a homeless person the stanky leg. Joanasie stank while in PEI; remember he pulled an Anawak?
And yet a project comes out for tender in Grise F and once again all is over budget and the project will not go forward even though 3 companies gave pricing.
One big problem is the specialist that evaluate the potential cost of work in Nunavut, they get paid and know nothing and then projects are not going forward because not enough money is budgeted
Just this past weekend May 24 & 25 Naujaat water treatment plant had a steady stream of increased Chlorine into the water going into the trucks. Apparently this has cause a strong Chlorine smell in the homes. Some people cooking with it found their ruined by the water.
If you don’t smell chlorine you should be worried because your water has been recontaminated by the bacteria in your dirty tank.
Who cares? No body. Municipal workers just wanna get paid. GN just wants to get paid. Health center staff just want to get paid. No one cares about their work up north. They just like their pay checks. When they get home, all they wanna do is Crack open a cold one. They got nothing. They know nothing.