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Hay River looks at ways to improve water quality

The Town of Hay River will be looking into ways to possibly improve the quality of the water obtained from Great Slave Lake.
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Glenn Smith, SAO, town of Hay River NNSL file photo

The Town of Hay River will be looking into ways to possibly improve the quality of the water obtained from Great Slave Lake.

On May 16, the GNWT issued a boil water advisory for Hay River, Enterprise, Kakisa and the Hay River Reserve because of the water’s turbidity – basically muddiness – caused by the spring breakup of the Hay River.

Mike Auge, the town’s director of public works and services, said there will be more in-depth monitoring of the water treatment plant and water samples will be sent to a third-party laboratory for analysis.

The two steps were recommended in a report last year on the water treatment plant by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs.

“One was to do some in-plant, so within the water treatment plant, more in-depth monitoring for a period of probably a week or so, and just see if there was a way through that analysis to optimize the chemical dosing that we are doing to the water,” Auge said. “And a second recommendation was to send water out to a third-party lab for them to do some analysis and just determine if we’re using the right coagulants and the right chemicals to really optimize the performance of our water treatment plant to hopefully reduce the boil water advisories that we do get.”

The town waited until the turbidity increased before it sent water samples to the outside laboratory so it could be tested at its worst.

Auge is hopeful that the steps can make some difference with the water quality.

“Do I think it’s going to make a difference where we’re not going to have to have any boil water advisories again in the future? I’m very doubtful of that happening,” he said. “But even if we can reduce the amount of time that we are under a boil water advisory and improve our water quality to some degree, it’s beneficial to us.”

Glenn Smith, the town’s senior administrative officer, is hopeful that the lab testing might result in some tweaks to the water treatment that may help. The three boil water advisories in 2020 lasted from May 13 to June 16, from June 19 to July 6 and from Sept. 2 to Oct. 20.