Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As residents of the Northwest Territories, we often take our abundant sources of high-quality fresh water for granted. Every year the Government of the Northwest Territories makes water and sewer contributions to the communities to operate standardized water and sewer services for all residents. Compared to people in many parts of the world, we are blessed, but I want to ensure we are getting the best value for money.
Enterprise and Kakisa, two communities in my riding, get their water from Hay River. The water is drawn from Great Slave Lake, treated at Hay River’s water treatment plant and then trucked 40 kilometres to Enterprise and 140 kilometres to Kakisa by a private contractor. Enterprise bills users on a set rate. Kakisa, due to its small population, does not bill individual users for water. Hay River is responsible for the operations and maintenance and replacement of the water treatment plant.
Enterprise reported a little over $200,000 in water and sewer expenses last year, and trucking water generated close to $60,000 in revenue for the community. Kakisa paid about $170,000 for water and sewer. MACA is proposing an increase in water and sewer funding to these communities this year, but last year’s funding fell short of the communities’ expenses for 2012.
Both communities want to provide water to their residents independently. The Northwest Territories has some of the finest and most abundant sources of water in the world, yet this government seems to think it makes better economic sense to burn diesel fuel to haul water down a long, dusty highway. Private industry uses basic water treatment technology to serve work sites with a higher population than Kakisa, yet we are told a water treatment plant would cost roughly $2.2 million, plus ongoing costs for operation and maintenance.
We understand governments are under pressure to adhere to national drinking water quality guidelines. We are all familiar with the horror stories of Walkerton and the terrible water quality problems on reserves down south. We know we need to provide water to our communities at a higher standard of quality. At the same time, it is disappointing that a small community like Kakisa cannot even provide water to its homes and buildings. Just as there must be a simpler, less-expensive way to provide power than diesel, there must be a simpler, less-expensive way to provide water to this community.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
If you want to achieve real changes to the cost of living in our northern communities, we need to look at local solutions and develop unique approaches to the needs of our communities.
