Iqaluit water emergency and Canadian Armed Forces assistance

Edited from Nunatsiaq News and various other sources

In early October 2021, residents of the City of Iqaluit started reporting, via social media, hydrocarbon odours coming from the water taps in their homes. Over the next 10 days, the City of Iqaluit and the Nunavut Government’s Department of Health tested the water to identify any public health risks associated with the odours and provide the necessary background information for decisions on potential actions in response to any contamination. On October 12th, the City of Iqaluit declared a state of emergency associated with hydrocarbon contamination of the city’s drinking water system. The Government of Nunavut’s Department of Health issued a “Do Not Consume” water advisory at the same time. This water advisory affected all 8,000-plus residents of Iqaluit. This was a story that made national and international headlines.

Following the Do Not Consume order, available bottled water in the city dried up quickly. Getting more bottled water shipped in was not easy to do given Iqaluit’s remote location 2,000 kilometres north of Ottawa. As the emergency unfolded, the Qikiqtani General Hospital cancelled surgeries due to concerns about the quality of the tap water for their instrument sterilization systems.

Emergency actions taken by the City included setting up filling stations for residents to access water from the nearby Sylvia Grinnell River. On October 22, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) received a Request for Assistance from the Government of Nunavut to support the water

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emergency. On October 23, which was 11 days after the issue of the Do Not Consume order, two reverse osmosis drinking water purification units (ROWPU) and supporting infrastructure and military personnel, in an operation known by the name LENTUS, were flown to Iqaluit. A LENTUS operation is a CAF response to natural disasters within Canada

Meanwhile, the LENTUS personnel advised the City and Government that it would take about three days to set up the reverse osmosis water purification units. The Canadian military had never operated the water purification units in cold temperatures, so it was anticipated the set up might take longer than it would in a warmer climate. It was a steep learning curve for everybody involved in the water emergency.

The setup time also included moving and organizing a large amount of equipment, including tents and heaters to help keep the machines warm and hoses and bladders to hold the purified water. One of the considerations for the LENTUS site location was whether the slope of the roads was manageable for trucks filled with water and driving in icy conditions.

Around two dozen military personnel operated the mobile units to pump, pressurize, and filter water from the Sylvia Grinnell River using reverse osmosis. However, as the temperatures dropped to minus 15°C, the treatment systems were challenged and at times ice management was required around the Sylvia Grinnell River intake pipes.

On December 10, the Government of Nunavut lifted the Do Not Consume advisory and the City collected its last 40,000 litres of water from the military setup. The Canadian Armed Forces packed up and left Iqaluit after six weeks of purifying water for residents. However, only 10 of the members of the LENTUS operation left the city. The other 14 members stayed behind to carry out post mobilization tasks. In total, Operation LENTUS purified more than 300,000 litres of water in six weeks.

The emergency triggered other activities besides Operation LENTUS. While the LENTUS crew were providing safe water for the people of Iqaluit, the City and the Government of Nunavut started working with engineering consultants and third-party contractors to identify, understand, and solve the problem of the contamination of the city’s water supply. This was by no means an easy task, given that the entire water distribution system had been contaminated.

The City and the consultants were able to find the cause of the contamination, which was a buried “orphan” fuel tank beside the water treatment plant. A bypass system was put in place to avoid moving water through the area near the old, buried fuel tank until a complete cleaning could be done. The City also adjusted, installing a real-time online hydrocarbon monitoring system. All storage tanks and reservoirs that had been contaminated were cleaned and disinfected and the entire water distribution system was flushed.

Operation LENTUS was a learning exercise for the CAF. They left Iqaluit having learned some real lessons about how to operate in cold weather, as the water purification units had never been operated this far north before. For example, on November 23, harsh winds damaged a military tent and shut down the operation for about two weeks. The military had to move indoors into the North American Aerospace Defense Command Forward Operating location near the Iqaluit airport to start production again. All told, the Canadian Armed Forces provided a very necessary, strategic service to the residents of Iqaluit. The Canadian Armed Forces, and the soldiers who carried out the operation in particular, deserve the gratitude of the people of Iqaluit. S

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