Nearly half of Nunavut has been told to boil their water this year

Nunavut is no stranger to boil water notices, but this year alone 11 out of 25 Nunavut communities have been given that order at least once. 

Some, like in Rankin Inlet and Iqaluit, are precautionary measures due to infrastructure upgrades. 

Most of the other notices are for issues like inconsistent chlorine levels, high turbidity (cloudiness) and high bacteria levels.

Baker Lake's notice started on June 10. That was finally lifted on Friday — 166 days later.

Gloria Anawak is one of 14 people living inside a three-bedroom home in Baker Lake. Most of her household consists of young kids who are vulnerable to dirty water. 

"We always try to make sure that they have the boiled water because we're afraid for them to get sick," she said. 

Since 2019, Baker Lake has had a boil water advisory every year, except for 2023. 

It happens so frequently that Anawak doesn't drink straight from the tap — whether a notice is issued or not. 

"It seems like for the past few years, it's been a lot of boil water advisories. So it just feels like it's no use having tap water," she said. 

"When the boil water advisory lifts … what's happening with the water trucks? Are they going to clean out all the water trucks? And every house has pipes running from the water tank." 

Matthew Hough, Nunavut's assistant deputy minister of infrastructure, said Baker Lake's water quality problem is partly due to its geographical location. 

Fresh spring air pushes silt from a nearby river into Baker Lake, where the community gets its drinking water from.

"That [water treatment] plant wasn't designed to remove that silt," he said, which causes the cloudy water. 

But that's one of several treatment plants that will be replaced in the coming years. 

$300M over 4 years for Nunavut

All the boil water notices, Hough said, suggest the alert system is working as designed. It's flagging when it's safe — and not safe — to drink the tap water, and what actions need to be taken to remedy that. 

"Nunavummiut can trust the water that is coming out of their taps," he said. 

Earlier this year, David Joanasie, the minister of community and government services said some water treatment plants didn't meet federal guidelines for drinking water quality.

As of last week, Hough said all treatment plants in the territory now meet those standards. 

But he acknowledges that Nunavut has aging infrastructure, and they were built to meet the existing standards at the time of its design. 

Those standards constantly changing, and the territory is currently looking to replace the existing Public Water Supply Regulations with new Municipal Drinking Water Regulations.

Over the next four years, the Nunavut government is pouring in more than $300 million into water infrastructure, with help from the federal government. 

About half a dozen treatment plants have been identified for upgrades, Hough said, and they'll be built to account for a larger population in the future. 

"As of 2023 when the water quality strategy was finalized, the momentum really got going with regards to addressing the physical infrastructure," Hough said. 

Traditional knowledge of elders and women

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to drinking water and sanitation, visited Nunavut earlier this year.

Nunavut's aging water treatment infrastructure was a part of his final report submitted in September. Eighty-five per cent of it is in a poor condition. 

"The systematic or frequent non-availability of drinking water … breaches the human right to drinking water. In these cases, public information on the non-potability of water is issued, but it is not sufficient to meet the obligation to ensure safe drinking water for all," he wrote in the report. 

He also called on rights for all to safe drinking water. Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout lays the blame on under investment from the federal government. 

"There are already international law instruments that Canada has adopted … and they are not upholding those instruments," she said.

Arrojo-Agudo also wrote about the importance of traditional knowledge held by women and elders, who know the water and the environment. 

He referenced the water contamination emergency in Iqaluit in 2021, where women provided warnings about the changing water quality before anybody else noticed. 

Idlout said there's still too much reliance on scientific experts. 

"We need to have that same level of resources given to elders and women that can make just as informed decisions about how to impact policy and legislation," she said. 

Hough said community consultations are central to any decision the government makes before they do any new construction. 

Water responsibility territorial, not federal, responsibility

After speaking with CBC, Idlout raised the issue of Nunavut's boil water advisories in the House of Commons last Wednesday.

In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on "the NDP to stop slow-walking the clean water bill … so we can actually deliver the water Canadians need from coast to coast to coast, including in Nunavut."

He's referring to Bill C-61, which applies to supporting public water and wastewater systems on First Nations land. It does not affect Nunavut. 

In a written statement to CBC, Indigenous Services Canada said "the responsibility for water and wastewater servicing in communities in Nunavut has been fully devolved to the territorial government." 

"Consequently, the government of Nunavut is responsible for funding, overseeing, and regulating water, as well as the provision of safe drinking water."