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Joel tranter11/5/2022 ![]() 23, all sampling undertaken for petroleum hydrocarbons have shown the water is safe to drink. In a Tuesday release, the city also said that since Oct. The installation of a second monitoring station to monitor raw water from Lake Geraldine, the lake the city draws its drinking water from, is also expected to be completed by the end of the week, according to the city's spokesperson. "I think more clear and frequent communication would have been helpful and will be helpful going forward. Huang also suggested the city should make data from its new water monitors publicly available in real-time to help alleviate concerns about drinking water quality - something the city has promised to do on a weekly basis. #JOEL TRANTER FULL#"I do think a full transparency will be critical to regain the confidence of the public in this critical infrastructure," she said. She also said it's important to keep in mind that the city used to be home to an old American air force base and, as a result, is at a higher risk of future fuel contamination. "Previous test results found that the risk of contamination at the time was low and that the water was safe to drink," the order read.ĭespite the initial communication challenges, Huang said there was a good information flow from the city in the days that followed.īut she said the public deserves to know how those in charge handled the situation. ![]() Two days later, Nunavut's health department issued the do not consume order. "Drinking water testing to date satisfactory." ![]() 10 the City of Iqaluit issued a release asking residents to report any odours from their taps and said that no water quality advisory was being issued at that time. Huang said she told both the city and Nunavut's health department to emphasize the initial test results were preliminary, rather than more conclusive. Huang urged caution in communicating initial results "This was one of the challenges that was faced during the early stages of the investigation." "The time it takes to send samples to a southern lab and receive results is usually five days," she wrote. "The lab was called and they advised staff to use the bottles on hand to rush the samples and they would send the correct bottles," Cameron wrote. In an email statement to CBC News, City of Iqaluit spokesperson Aleksey Cameron wrote that testing for petroleum hydrocarbons is not part of the federal or territorial testing requirements, and therefore was not part of the city's water testing regime.Īs a result, she said, the city did not have the correct bottles to test for hydrocarbon contamination. The do not consumer order has since been lifted, but some residents are still wary of drinking the water. The city would eventually point to an underground fuel spill as the potential cause of the contamination. 12, the city of 8,000 people was under a do not consume order that lasted nearly two months. She said she wanted to rule out that the smell wasn't caused by petroleum hydrocarbons entering the drinking water system.īy Oct. Huang said she also asked if the city tested specifically for hydrocarbon contamination as she said she and her colleagues could detect a fuel smell from their taps, even as social media posts began to pop up saying the same thing. Her six-month contract with the territory wrapped up in late October. Working with the territory's chief public health officer on COVID-19, she was also responsible for environmental health. She began her role as deputy chief public health officer in April. "I was worried because I didn't know how much that could impact the findings," Huang said from Regina. ![]() In the days that followed, her fears were realized when she found that initial water samples sent to an Ottawa lab had not been collected correctly. Anne Huang, who is no longer in the role, said that "It definitely was challenging to receive information that first week." Initially, she said the city "had no idea who I was." Nunavut's former deputy chief public health officer says she flagged concerns to the City of Iqaluit about whether tests at the city's water facilities were done properly in early October when strange, fuel-like smells were coming from the taps. (Emma Tranter/The Canadian Press - image credit) A former Nunavut health official says residents deserve to know how those in charge handled the recent water crisis. 13, 2021, after the city issued a do not consume order for its tap water. ![]() Iqaluit residents collect water from the Sylvia Grinnell River in Nunavut on Wednesday, Oct. ![]()
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