Canadian Arctic Territory Suffers Contaminated Drinking Water

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The Capital of Canada's Arctic territory, Iqaluit, has ordered 7,000 of its residential population not to use drinking water for cooking and drinking.

Threatened by fuel contamination, the capital of Nunavut, Canada's northmost territory, declared Tuesday night a state of emergency, ordering residents to stop treating the city's water as potable.

Residents of Iqaluit had reported smelling fuel in the water over the weekend; however, the sources of the odors were not clear. The contamination level is so bad the water cannot be used for cooking and cleaning even after boiling, prompting the city to warn citizens against using it for drinking and cooking.

Investigations have found potential hydrocarbon contamination at a water treatment plant, causing the city to send water out by truck, with instructions to boil the water for up to one minute.

Although Canadian soil has 20% of the world's freshwater, over 40 indigenous communities across the country receive similar advisories, i.e., to boil their water for at least one minute ahead of usage. Indigenous people form 86% of Nunavut's population.

25% of Canada's indigenous population are estimated to be living in poverty, said the Canadian Poverty Institute.

The locals have no other option but to take the boil-advisory water, as bottled water is extremely expensive in the north, partly due to high shipping costs.

Canada was not supposed to have any boil-water advisories as of 2020, as its liberal Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, had promised ahead of his election as part of his campaign that he would put an end to that issue. Trudeau first came to office in 2015, and as we can tell, he failed to fulfill his electoral promise of delivering potable water to Canada's indigenous and those living in the north with them.