Debates of August 22, 2007 (day 15)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in his Member’s statement, Mr. Miltenberger said that water is life. That is true. Hay River gets its drinking water or potable water for our residents from Great Slave Lake. This has been the case for many years. There is a water intake line that goes into Great Slave Lake and brings water into Hay River.

Mr. Speaker, this spring, from May 16th to June 9th, there was a boil water order issued by the environmental health officer in Hay River. This is a big problem. This was during the time that we had about 1,000 or 1,100 extra people in town for the track and field meet. If there is a time that you need a drink of water, it is going to be the same things those kids were doing: racing down the track. This is a big challenge for our municipality because the Hay River isn’t called the Hay River for nothing. It picks up a lot of silt or something along the way before it gets to Hay River, so normally in the spring it comes down. Traditionally, the water is kind of murky for a few days and then things settle down. We continue to enjoy the wonderful water from Great Slave Lake, but we have a problem now in that this system is not satisfying the current Canadian drinking water guidelines. In order to retain a water licence, this is something that needs to be dealt with. For the second largest community in the Northwest Territories to have a boil water order for almost a month is completely unsatisfactory. However, the solutions to this problem are not going to be cheap and they are not going to be easy to find.

Another complicating factor, of course, is the fact that a lot of residents of Hay River have trucked water so they have tanks. So the sludge actually builds up in the bottom of those tanks and needs to be cleaned. That is not an easy thing for people to do. That is not an easy thing for homeowners to undertake. So this is a very big challenge that is facing our town, complicated by the fact that, of course, as you all know, the water sewer subsidy from MACA for Hay River was reduced by $200,000 this fiscal year. We not only have an ongoing problem, we also have a capital challenge now. I will be looking to this government to support my community to ensure we can provide good quality drinking water in the future going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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