Responding to the Iqaluit water crisis

By Justin Rak‑Banville, Ian Moran, and Dr. Charles Goss

In October of 2021, residents of Iqaluit, Nunavut made water quality complaints regarding a fuel-like smell coming from their tap water. Shortly thereafter, visible fuel-like contamination was discovered on the surface of one of the belowground treated water tanks at the water treatment plant.

The territory’s Chief Public Health Officer issued a "Do Not Consume" water advisory, which placed tremendous stress on consumers for access to potable water, the ability of the hospital to sterilize equipment, and further logistical complications due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also prompted a coordinated citywide bottled water distribution program, bottled water supply assistance from the Government of Nunavut, and installation of a temporary water purification system by the Canadian Armed Forces.

A team from WSP was immediately flown to Iqaluit to identify the source of the contamination and address it, assess the risks to consumers, and actively implement measures to safeguard the system from a future contamination event.

One of the major challenges was the remote northern location. During win- ter months (the time of the crisis), Iqaluit is only accessible by air. Transportation of bottled water, essential goods and equipment is both a costly and untimely endeavour. Further to this, Iqaluit’s harsh winters placed immense pressure on the city to find an alternative to bottled water distribution, as it frequently shuts down due to extreme cold and snow condi- tions. A solution was needed, and it was needed fast.

As if there were not enough challenges, third-party lab results for petroleum hydrocarbons would take over one week to get back. This meant that critical decisions were being made on week-old data, and the city couldn’t inform con- continued overleaf…