Don't build 'outhouse' near water supply: Jenkins

Building Dawson City's new sewage treatment facility near thetown's water supply could contaminate the water, hotel owner and former health minister Peter Jenkins says.

"You never build your outhouse right on top of your drinking water supply," Jenkins told CBC News.

The $14-million sewage lagoon is going to be built at the entrance to town, by the ball diamonds and not far from the underground wells where the town gets its water.

The town has to build a facility because it has been ordered by the court to stop dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.

Although the construction will be paid for by the territorial and federal governments, any problems after the first year of operation will bethe town's responsibility, says Jenkins.

For example, the lines running to and from the lagoon, buried in permafrost, are bound to cause problems, he says.

"It usually takes four or five more years until there is ground movement to break the lines and then you have a real crappy mess on your hands," he says.

As for the $14-million pricetag, Jenkins says the Yukon government has never accurately projected the cost of building any facility in Dawson andhe doesn't expect the lagoon to be any different.

A petition opposing the lagoon's location is also being circulated in the community of 1,800 by resident Jorn Meier. If enough people sign it, he says,the town will have to hold a referendum on the location.