Gjoa water woes under control

A temporary pipe and pump house were installed in Gjoa Haven to solve the community’s water supply problems.

The new connection means truck drivers will no longer have to make the trek out to the nearby lake to fill up their tanks.

Since December, when the system froze, water trucks had to fill up at a nearby lake, and drivers worked additional shifts to meet the community’s water needs.

These extra shifts are expected to create a deficit in the hamlet’s water and sewage fund.

But at least the water situation hasn’t been as bad as it was four years ago, when MLAs passed a bottle of water from Gjoa Haven around in the Nunavut legislature, but none of them wanted to take a drink.

That’s because the small plastic bottle contained water full of blood worms.

“It’s taken me two days and two nights to travel back to Iqaluit to show the members of this house that blood worms continue to infest the water supply,” said Uriash Puqiqnaq, then the MLA from Nattilik, after plunking the bottle full of bugs down on top of his lectern in the house.

Puqiqnaq, who was recently elected mayor of Gjoa Haven, said earlier this week that the lake water is now free of bloodworms.

“We don’t find those worms in our hair when we wash it now. It’s not good for the health, but it’s ok.”

A new water system for the community is still under construction.