Land Use Planning and Waste Management in Iqaluit, Nunavut

LAND USE PLANNING AND WASTE MANAGEMENT IN IQALUIT, NUNAVUT Ken Johnson Engineer, Planner, and Surveyor UMA Engineering Ltd. ken.planner@home.com The City of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada’s newest Capital City, is unique in its location, its culture, and its infrastructure. Its place in Canada is even more interesting given the population of Iqaluit is less than 6,000 people. Its infrastructure not only includes specialized systems for water and sewer delivery and collection, but also special considerations for waste management. The waste management in Iqaluit includes both sanitary sewage treatment and disposal, and solid waste disposal. Both of these waste streams have had significant influence on the development of Iqaluit in the past, and will continue to have significant influence on the development into the future.

History of Waste Management The City of Iqaluit has had a continuing problem with solid waste management and sewage treatment and disposal within the community. The history of waste management in Iqaluit has evolved no differently than most remote communities, with convenience and low cost being the original criteria for waste management systems.

For solid waste management, this problem began with the use of multiple solid waste disposal sites by various military organizations in the 1950s and 1960s; the problem continued after the military left Iqaluit. The use of the military dump sites, and additional unorganized sites by the community continued. The end result has been a total of six known community solid waste disposal sites, none of which have incorporated proper waste management techniques, or proper site reclamation.

The sewage treatment and disposal systems for the City have also been problematic, however, prior to 1978, raw sewage was discharged from a number of pipes along the shore. The primary sewage lagoon system which presently serves the City of Iqaluit was a major improvement to sewage treatment in 1978.

The location of the sewage lagoon has been a concern of the community for many years because of its proximity to the community core and the airport. This proximity has raised concerns from the perspective of aesthetics, public health, and public safety.

The lagoon operation has operated to the general satisfaction of the regulatory authorities, however, it has suffered from a number of catastrophic failures of portions of the dike structure. These failures have been attributed to both tidal action at the toe of the dikes, and surface runoff intrusion and overflows to the top of the dikes.

These failures have been documented in the years 1981, 1984 and 1991.

The City of Iqaluit retained consulting expertise in the early 1990s to provide preliminary engineering for improvements for solid waste management and sewage treatment and disposal. The engineering work has also included work for the cleanup of the existing solid waste disposal sites within the community.

The consultant’s work on solid waste management produced a new landfill site that was placed in operation in 1995. This site represented a significant step forward in waste management because the site was planned and engineered to include landfill design parameters such as on-site and off-site drainage control, access control and engineered roads, appropriate consideration of setbacks, and operation and maintenance planning. The engineering of the new landfill also received the appropriate regulatory scrutiny and approvals in advance of its operation.

The preliminary engineering on sewage treatment and disposal produced several recommendations for system improvements in consideration of the current effluent quality standards, and improved effluent quality standards.

In implementing improvements to sewage treatment and disposal, the City chose to pursue a design build approach to a sewage treatment facility.

The spatial relationships for waste management and development are now reasonably well defined by the regulatory framework currently in place, with considerations of setbacks for residential and commercial development, natural habitat, and transportation.

However, the waste management practices of the past continue to influence development in Iqaluit because many of these setbacks were not been applied or enforced.

The waste management activities in and around the City include five abandoned solid waste sites and a primary sewage lagoon.

Landfill Practices and Spatial Framework in Cold Regions Landfills in cold region communities are evolving from waste management of convenience to engineered landfill sites. The evolution of waste management sites from the so-called “dump” to the engineered landfill sites has occurred over many years, and is far from finished.

Many landfills remain very unsatisfactory to regulatory officials from public health and environmental impact perspectives. The reasons behind the remaining

2001: A Spatial Odyssey/Odyssée de L’espace poor waste management practices are many, and include insufficient resources for waste management to an incomplete understanding of what appropriate waste management should include.

The landfills utilized in the cold regions may be generally categorized into four different types of “depression” types, “embankment” types, “mound” types and “excavation” types. The depression and embankment types represent landfills developed from convenience rather than design. The mound and excavation types represent engineered landfills that cold region communities now strive to construct and maintain. Many local factors ultimately determine the ultimate configuration and location of the landfill in a community.

The lining of community landfills in cold regions with an engineered material has never been undertaken and is unlikely to be undertaken in the foreseeable future given the added cost and the limited community capital budgets.

The spatial framework for landfills is governed by several pieces of legislation, the most significant of which is the Public Health Act, and the associated Public Health Regulation. The General Sanitation Regulations to the Public Health Acts in Nunavut are intended to address the public health and safety aspects.

The Regulations state that no building used for human habitation shall be: • nearer than 450 m to a waste disposal ground; or • on any site, the soil of which has been made up of any refuse, unless the refuse has been removed from the site or has been consolidated or the site has been disinfected in every case and the site has been approved by a Health Officer.

Although the regulation conveys some discretionary authority by the Health Officer, in practice, the regulators have not exercised any discretion with regard to setbacks.

As well, the Regulations also state that every waste disposal ground shall be: • located at least 90 m from any public road allowance, railway, right-of-way, cemetery, highway or thoroughfare; and • situated at such a distance from any source of water or ice for human consumption or ablution that no pollution shall take place.

Other agencies that are part of the spatial and regulatory framework include: the Nunavut Water Board; the Territorial Department of Renewable Resources; the Territorial Department of Community Government and Transportation; Transport Canada; Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; the Department of Fisheries and Oceans; and Environment Canada. Each agency has a regulatory influence in the form of the operations, maintenance, environmental impact or spatial relationship.

Sewage Treatment Practices and Spatial Framework in Cold Regions A variety of treatment options for wastewater treatment and disposal are available for cold region communities, however, the ultimate choice for a community depends upon technology which is appropriate to the location. The treatment technologies available may be categorized into the two general areas of mechanical and non-mechanical treatment, which describes the mechanism by which the sewage treatment is completed.

Mechanical treatment may be characterized by the need for a power supply, construction to accommodate devices imported to the community, and a reasonably sophisticated operating system. A common example of a mechanical system is a rotating biological contactor (RBC).

Non-mechanical treatment may be best characterized by using the very common example of a sewage lagoon.

This system often does not require a power supply, and may be constructed using mainly local materials. Sewage lagoon systems may be constructed systems or existing natural impoundments of a natural depression or lake system.

Mechanical treatment systems have not been widely utilized in NWT or Nunavut communities. The use of mechanical systems in the NWT has, in a number of cases, been unsuccessful. Lagoon systems for cold regions may be categorized as continuous discharge (short detention and long detention), intermittent discharge, and zero discharge.

The regulatory framework for sewage treatment and disposal is similar to that for solid waste, with similar agency involvement and similar setback requirements.

Land Use Bylaws and Waste Management The Town’s General Plan Bylaw was developed with sections to specifically address waste management past, present, and future in the context of land use planning.

The specific wording in the Bylaw includes the following passages devoted specifically to waste management: 1. The City will continue to evaluate options for long-term sewage treatment, including the relocation of the lagoon, or tertiary sewage treatment at the present site. The evaluation will consider cost-effectiveness, the degree of environmental protection and the land use implications.

2. The City will reserve a site in West 40 (west limit of the community) as shown on the Future Land Use Concept as a potential site for the relocation of the sewage lagoon. If another option for sewage treatment is adopted; then other potential uses for that site will be considered.

If the best solution is the relocation of the sewage lagoon, the existing site will be restored and consideration given

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2001: A Spatial Odyssey/Odyssée de L’espace to a second or relocated road link between West 40 and the rest of Iqaluit.

3. The City shall continue to evaluate all possible options for an integrated waste management system, including the suitability of the new landfill suit for long-term use and also considering complementary strategies such as source reduction, reuse, and recycling of waste materials.

4. The City shall continue to encourage the responsible federal, territorial and other agencies to assist in the clean up and restoration of the six landfill sites which are the legacy of fifty years of indiscriminate waste disposal. The City shall seek suitable end uses, such as recreational use, for these restored sites.

Future Waste Management This national spotlight for the City of Iqaluit has given rise to an increased awareness in many aspects of the community’s infrastructure, particularly waste management. Although the current practice of landfilling and open burning in an engineered landfill site is the status quo for most of northern Canada, this is no longer a desirable practice in the City of Iqaluit, particularly at the current landfill site in the West 40 area.

A sitting study was recently completed to position the City of Iqaluit to proceed with the implementation of a new waste management plan.

The siting study encompassed the entire area within the Municipal Boundary in order to satisfy any potential criticism in the siting process. Clearly, distance to a site becomes a significant factor from the onset given that the capital cost of an access road may exceed $250,000 per kilometre, and that operation and maintenance costs in the winter would be very expensive as well.

Ultimately implementation of a site will be based upon environmental and land use criteria, technology, and stakeholder and community consultation to gain acceptance of a site. The criteria for an environmental assessment of any particular site will also vary depending upon the site. The City of Iqaluit is suggesting that it will pursue the implementation of a solid waste incineration system to be located in the industrially zoned area. The implementation of this technology will ultimately depend upon available capital funding (in excess of $3 million), and sustainable operation and maintenance funding (in excess of $300,000 per year).

The City Iqaluit is also working toward the start-up of a new tertiary sewage treatment plant which may provide high quality treatment to serve the City well into the future. This $7 million capital project, with an operation and maintenance demand in excess of $400,000 per year, is awaiting completion of project deficiencies.

An interesting opportunity has emerged for some

residents in the Apex neighbourhood of Iqaluit. A technology known as wastewater recycling has received funding for a trial program for an 11 house cluster. This system would take wastewater from each house and complete a tertiary treatment process before pumping it back to be used to flush toilets and do laundry. Residents would still get a fresh supply of water for drinking and bathing. The water system is an innovative environmental project the City is banking on to conserve Iqaluit’s water supply Recycling wastewater is expected to reduce water consumption (from 1,825,700 litres a year to 912,850 litres a year) and cut down the number of water deliveries to households (4,000 to 100 per year).

The growth in Iqaluit over the past three years has put a tremendous strain on the City’s waste management systems. This, in turn, has placed demands and expectations on the City’s land use planning efforts related to waste management.

These improvements to the current waste management practices in the City of Iqaluit will improve the presentation of the community as a Territorial Capital, and also improve the development situation with regard to regulatory setback requirements for public safety, public health, and environmental protection.

Biography Ken Johnson is an engineer, planner and surveyor from St. Albert, Alberta. Ken’s formal training includes a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, and Certificates in Site Planning and Survey Technology. Ken is a registered Professional Engineer in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and the Province of Alberta.

Ken is also an Associate Member of the Alberta Land Surveyors Association, a Provisional Member of the Alberta Association of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and past Chair of the Cold Region Engineering Division of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.

Ken’s professional experience in the Canadian north spans a period of 14 years; during 5 of these years he spent some time as a resident of each of the 3 Territorial Capitals. He has worked as far north as Canadian Forces Station Alert, and to the eastern and western limits of the Canadian north. Ken has provided consulting expertise in the areas of cold region municipal engineering, cold region environmental engineering, and land use planning in remote communities. His current areas of interest and study are land use planning and climate change in cold regions, on-site wastewater recycling in cold regions, and land use planning and waste management in cold regions.

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