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Support trickles in for Apex water project

City needs 11 homes to sign up for "healthy house" system

DENISE RIDEOUT

A small group of Apex residents took a good hard look at a glass of water last week. As they passed the glass around the room, each inspected its contents carefully — some holding it almost to their noses, others turning it in their hands to examine the water from all angles, and many even smelling it.

It looks like water and smells like water, they agreed. And it is water — but with a little twist. It is actually waste water filtered through an innovative water-recycling system.

Jens Steenberg smiled as the glass made its way around the community hall in Apex. The sample had come directly from his home.

During the Feb. 21 public meeting, city officials used Steenberg’s water to demonstrate how the project, known as the Healthy House System, can take household sewage, treat it, and pump it back into people’s homes to be used for flushing toilets.

Steenberg, who has been recycling his waste water for three years, is the first person in Nunavut to make his home a "healthy house."

Now, the Iqaluit city council wants to get 11 Apex residents hooked on the project. By installing a water-recycling system, the municipality can cut its spending on water delivery and lessen the demand on Iqaluit’s already over-taxed water supply.

In order to get the system up and running, a treatment plant about the size of a two-car garage will have to be installed in Apex. Pipes connecting participating homes to the system will be installed underground in residents’ backyards.

A representative with the Healthy House System told Apex residents the project has benefits all around.

"I really believe that this style of delivery of waste water services can be a viable option for the Arctic," said Rolf Paloheimo, who works with the Healthy House System.

Paloheimo told residents it costs 125 times more to deliver water and sewer services to households in the Arctic than it does in southern Canada. Besides that, trucked water services are less reliable and residents run out of water from time to time, he said.

The water-recycling program could also cut down on the number of times water trucks have to fill residents’ water tanks. With the new system, trucks would deliver water only to one main tank – one delivery for all 11 homes, rather than 11 individual deliveries.

Fewer deliveries will save the city about $34,000 a year on trucked water services. And with Iqaluit’s water treatment plant near capacity, the new system would reduce the demand on the water supply, Paloheimo said.

Even better, Paloheimo added, is that participating residents will have lower water bills. He said bills can be cut by as much as 60 per cent.

"There’s no cost to the homeowners," Paloheimo told residents.

The municipality doesn’t have to worry too much about funding the project. The core of the money is coming from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. The organization is giving Iqaluit a $77,500 grant, as well as a loan for $77,500. The municipality will chip in the rest to pay for the $325,000 project.

Several residents were genuinely excited about hooking up to the recycling system. "I myself I am very interested in having it in my home," said Alicee Joamie, who has lived in Apex since 1960.

"You indicated a 60 per cent reduction on water bills. I find that very encouraging as a homeowner," she said in Inuktitut. "I’d like to see the people of Apex to look at this, do our homework and be on the same page."

Tony Romito also jumped at the chance to be part of the new project. Romito marked an X on a map of Apex where his new home will be built this summer. The X indicates he wants his home hooked up.

"I thought it was just a fantastic idea. It’s especially expensive to get water trucked around," Romito said after the meeting, "Let’s just do it. I don’t see any drawbacks."

But one resident, Jim Little, said he isn’t convinced the municipality should spend its money on a water-recycling system. "I don’t want to be a naysayer. But I do have some concerns," he said. "I can see an application like this working somewhere like California where they don’t have much water."

The city needs a total of 11 homes to hook up. Following the meeting, Paloheimo went door to door in Apex and garnered support from a handful of residents.

The city expects the system to start running this November.

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