Iqaluit officials recommending rebate for customers amid drinking water crisis – National

Iqaluit residents might get a break on their water payments as they proceed to cope with gas contamination that’s prevented them from with the ability to drink their faucet water.

Mayor Kenny Bell says in a social media publish that he requested metropolis workers for a “request for determination” on a water rebate forward of this coming Tuesday’s council assembly.

Bell posted the ensuing doc on Saturday, which requires a full rebate for the month of October for purchasers who obtain their water by way of town’s pipes, in addition to those that obtain water from vans.

It says it’s making the advice as a result of town was unable to offer potable water for houses and companies for an prolonged time period, and the flushing of pipes would require individuals to make use of extra water.

The doc notes disadvantages to the thought, together with misplaced income of $965,677 for the month, and that it might create expectations for future interruptions of metropolis providers.

Iqaluit’s 8,000 residents haven’t been capable of eat tainted faucet water for practically two weeks after gas was present in samples, and Bell has mentioned the army is bringing in a cell therapy plant much like these utilized in catastrophe areas comparable to Haiti.

2:48
Nunavut chief public well being officer on Iqaluit water contamination

The doc suggests town submit an software below the Nunavut authorities’s Municipal Request for Help Program to recoup the misplaced income.

Iqaluit residents had reported a gas odor of their water as early as Oct. 2. On Oct. 12, staff opened a tank on the metropolis’s water therapy facility and smelled gas. Checks later got here again optimistic for top concentrations of gas in that tank.

The town has bypassed the contaminated tank however it’s nonetheless within the technique of flushing the contaminated water from its system and residents want to wash their houses’ water tanks.

Flushing is predicted proceed into at the very least subsequent week. It’s nonetheless not clear how gas acquired into the tank.

In a tweet Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned he had spoken with Nunavut PremierJoe Savikataaq and that the army might be deployed to Iqaluit to co-ordinate and ship clear ingesting water.