Workers prepare to distribute clean drinking water in Iqaluit. Photo: APTN file
The City of Iqaluit has shut down its water treatment plant after the water was contaminated last week with fuel for the second time.
The city says a breach in the system is suspected to have caused Iqaluit residents to smell fuel in their water, with breaches detected last week and today.
The city is using a bypass system to pump water to residents instead and the entire community is now under a boil water advisory.
Iqaluit residents couldn’t consume their tap water for two months last year after it was found to be contaminated with fuel.
The city has said an old fuel tank buried next to the water treatment plant was the source of last year’s contamination and residual traces of fuel entered the distribution system again last week.
The city says engineers and experts are on-site to find out how fuel entered the water again.
