'Terrible situation': Iqaluit water crisis exposes precarious conditions in the city
CTV
A developing water crisis in Nunavut’s capital city, Iqaluit, is exposing just how precarious the drinking water situation can be for the city as residents are currently paying about $9 for a litre of bottled water while major grocery stores are selling out.
On Tuesday, the city’s Department of Health declared a local state of emergency and advised residents not to drink the tap water due to the possibility of petroleum hydrocarbons in the water supply.
Iqaluit’s roughly 8,000 residents are being advised not to consume tap water for drinking or cooking until further notice, while both boiled and filtered water from the tap are not safe. Laundry, cleaning and showers are safe, provided the water isn’t swallowed while bathing, the city has said.
Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell told CTV’s Power Play that investigators discovered the smell of “petroleum products” in one of the containment units the city uses to store its drinking water.
“It’s too early to suggest even what it is, but if I was a betting man and the petroleum product is in there, I would suspect that it’s been damaged due to climate change,” he said.
