'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
More than 30,000 litres of bottled water arrived in Nunavut’s capital city Thursday after the government declared a state of emergency due to an evolving water crisis.
The plane, filled with sorely needed potable water, is the first of at least five shipments expected in Iqaluit by the beginning of next week.
“The estimated total of all of it up to Monday evening should be around 170,000 litres of water,” James Mearns, director of Nunavut Emergency Management, told CTV National News.
On Tuesday, the city warned residents not to drink the tap water after a fuel-like smell was detected at the water treatment plant. Water samples from Iqaluit were sent to a lab in Southern Canada for testing and are expected back in the coming days, but officials say the water source is potentially tainted with petroleum.
The city said residents will be given a maximum of four reusable jugs per household and urged people to keep them for future use.
The safe drinking water currently available is being handed out in 16-litre rations per household – welcome news to those struggling without water.
“You just feel really restricted, and it does affect every way of life at home. This is amazing to me. I couldn’t have gone without this water,” Iqaluit resident Maye Malliki told CTV National News after receiving her ration.
“This is very, very serious. I didn’t realize until today when it’s really affecting me.”
Agnico Eagle, which operates several mines in the territory, has also promised 15,000 litres of water to Iqaluit on a cargo flight that is set to land Friday. Meanwhile, some residents have been collecting water at Iqaluit's Sylvia Grinnell River.
Experts say that while any amount of fuel in drinking water is unsafe, drinking it over the short term isn't necessarily dangerous.
Steven Siciliano, a microbiologist and toxicologist, told The Canadian Press that long-term exposure to compounds found in gasoline could be "very risky" but drinking it for a week or so probably isn't going to do much harm.
"It's not like if you have one cup of water, you're poisoned for the rest of your life," Siciliano said.
"If they drank it before they found there was fuel, I don't think they have grave cause for concern. Going forward, is it OK? Absolutely not."
As officials examine the water treatment plant looking for the cause of the crisis, many in the fast-growing arctic hub fear even larger water struggles are ahead as Geraldine Lake, the city’s main source of drinking water, isn’t sustainable.
“Ultimately, we need to expand our existing water reservoir because we don't have enough water right now to meet the needs of our community,” Iqaluit city councillor Kyle Sheppard told CTV National News.
Sheppard says the once permanently frozen Arctic ground is melting rapidly due to climate change, causing major infrastructure problems.
“The area at the water plant that's been identified as a potential cause of the problems we're facing now is built underground, initially in permafrost. That permafrost is melting and all of our pipe infrastructure is now in the active layer, so it's subject to heaving and moving in the ground that wasn't really designed for,” he explained.
“So, our pipes are breaking off from access faults and snapping and breaking all winter.”
And as temperatures drop in one of Canada’s most northern cities, the urgency grows.
In the meantime, officials say their first priority is to ensure that Iqaluit residents have access to safe water.
Three additional air-loads of bottled water are scheduled to arrive Friday.
With files from the Canadian Press
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.