Cryofront: News, Views and Muse from the Far North
The extreme costs of Northern “Liquid Assets” By Ken Johnson, Stantec The extreme cost of northern water, for both capital cost and the operation and maintenance costs, is a reality that northern water practitioners are very familiar with and manage, as best they can, as part of their work in the north. However, periodic reality checks on these extreme costs even surprise the most experienced northern water practitioner. Such is the case with the recent tenders received for piped water and sewer replacement in Resolute, Nunavut (See Figure). Resolute is the second most northerly community in Canada, situated on Cornwallis Island at 74°42’N and 94°50’ W. The community has a population of approximately 250, and is served by a shallow buried piped water and sewer system that was constructed in the mid 1970s. The climate in Resolute is particularly challenging, with the average annual temperature being a chilly -16.7°C, and the lowest recorded temperature being - 52.2°C. The permanent community of Resolute was established in 1953
76 | Western Canada Water | Fall 2013
as part of an effort to assert Canadian sovereignty in the high arctic during the Cold War, because of the area’s strategic geopolitical position. This led the Government of Canada to forcibly relocate Inuit from northern Quebec to Resolute, and also to Grise Fiord. Expectations of establishing a significant northern presence in the 1970s prompted the Government of Canada to establish a new Resolute townsite adjacent to the existing townsite with shallow buried piped water and sewer system. The expectation at the time was that Resolute would grow to a population of several thousand people; this growth never occurred, and Resolute has maintained a population of only several hundred people. The water and sewer system has encountered operating challenges associated with freezing of the piping, and significant operating costs associated with high rates of water bleeding to prevent freezing. The steady deterioration of the system prompted the Government of the
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Northwest Territories (prior to the formation of Nunavut) to plan for replacing the system in the mid 1990s. The question of replacement of the existing piped system versus transition to a trucked delivery system has been studied numerous times since then. Currently, most of the communities in Nunavut are on a trucked water system, except for larger hubs of Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet. The most recent study was not conclusive on the whether trucked services would in fact be cheaper than piped services due to the anticipated costs of retrofitting the buildings for trucked services. As well, there is a strong sentiment within the community that the piped delivery of water and sewer services should be maintained. As presented in the News from the Field, the piped utility replacement project was put on indefinite hold after the lowest tender received for the project was $44.4 million. The lowest bid put the construction portion of the project approximately $18 million (70%) over the pretender construction estimate of $26 million. As jaw dropping as capital costs can be in the far north, the operation and maintenance costs are, in some cases, even more astounding, as can be seen in the following tables for the remote communities of Whati, in the Northwest Territories, and Grise Fiord in the Nunavut Territory (See Figure). Grise Fiord is the northern most community in Canada. Table 1. Whati, NWT Operation and Maintenance costs Year
Water $
Sewer $
Total $
2001
167,800
71,900
239,700
2002
184,600
79,100
263,700
In comparison to the cost of water in these communities, the cost of water is a mere 0.12 cents per litre in Edmonton. A quick mathematical comparison places water costs in Whati 13 times more expensive than Edmonton, and water costs in Grise Fiord a whopping 38 times more expensive than Edmonton. The term “liquid asset” for water and sewer infrastructure takes on a whole new meaning in the far north, and will continue to provide financial challenges to both the capital, and operation and maintenance costs. Added to the financial challenges are the technical challenges of designing, constructing, operating and maintaining northern water and sewer infrastructure.
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$580 per capita per year in 2002 or 2.3 cents per litre for water and sewer (1.6 cents per litre for water only); water use: 11.5 million litres per year or 70 litres per capita per day
Table 2. Grise Fiord, Nunavut Operation and Maintenance costs Year
Water $
Sewer $
Total $
2001
234,391
100,200
334,591
2002
255,959
109,696
365,655
$2,240 per capita per year in 2002 or 6.4 cents per litre for water and sewer (4.5 cents per litre for water only); water use - 5,678,500 litres per year or 95 litres per capita per day
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Fall 2013 | Western Canada Water | 77