Rankin Inlet seeing major upgrades to water and waste-water systems
Rankin Inlet is making major upgrades to its utilidor, water and waste-water systems.
Senior administrative officer Darren Flynn said the hamlet doesn’t own the utilidor in Rankin, nor does it operate it.
He said the only involvement the hamlet has with the utilidor is when the municipality built new subdivisions; it put in the new pipe and incorporated that into the cost of the subdivision, which was then covered off in the equity-lease fees.
“That’s our only role in it,” said Flynn. “The current work being done now all over the community is, probably, going to last a little more than three years. If you look at what went on here in 2022 with one of the initial stages where they upgraded the Johnston Cove lift station (the sewage side of the station); up to that point the capacity in Old Town wasn’t there.
“So, the idea of doing new builds just wasn’t there. There was, basically, when I first got here, a freeze on the ability to build new construction on the old part of town. That’s subsequently been lifted, so we have no restrictions on that now.
“This past year, they put in a new loop supply line into Old Town which bolstered supply. So, they put in a whole brand-new line and they actually did an extension on that line that allowed for better flow. So, I mean, volumes are good.
“I couldn’t quote you the dollar value associated with that, but there’s been millions and millions of dollars invested by the Government of Nunavut during the past three years and it continues to be invested today. My understanding is that it’s part of an overall plan for, at least, another two or three years. A lot of projects that are still being discussed are a part of this.”
Flynn said he doesn’t know at what stage of approval everything is in the government’s budget cycle.
He said there has been a consistent amount of work done during the past three years and it continues to be done.
“What we have right now with our current water plant is, pretty much, disinfection or chlorination only. There’s a new water plant coming in here. There’s some survey work being done this year and, my understanding is, it will be similar to the plant that’s gone into Whale Cove and some other communities, but it will be significantly more robust simply because of its size.
“That will be filtration as well as sanitization (disinfecting the water). It will be located adjacent to the existing treatment plant at Williamson Lake. These are necessary upgrades because you are dealing with an important, necessary system. The plant at Williamson Lake requires total replacement. It’s my understanding that they’ve also done feasibility studies to look at a major upgrade at the Nipissar Lake pump house, which is the intake, but that’s probably a couple of years out yet.
“It’s somewhat of a moving target these days because of CCME (Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment) water regulations that were supposed to come into effect back in 2014 and are still expected to be achieved. That requires investment across the entire spectrum.
“You’re seeing it out there if you’re looking at the announcements that are being made, like Whale Cove now having its plant commissioned to address its water issues. It’s not just Rankin Inlet. It’s territory-wide that’s seen a significant investment in water and waste water.”
Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kivalliq News
