Hospital patients in Puvirnituq, Que., being flown south due to ongoing water emergency

Some patients at the hospital in Puvirnituq, Que., have been flown south for care because of ongoing water shortages in the community and at the hospital.

Since Wednesday, some patients have been moved to health centres down south, according to Santé Québec — though it wouldn't say how many. 

The community has been facing a serious water supply problem after a critical water pipe – connecting the pump station to the treatment plant – froze in mid-March.

That's slowed the delivery of water by trucks, with harsh weather conditions and slushy roads complicating matters. 

The local hospital has run out of water several times in recent weeks, health workers say.

Ian Lafrenière, Quebec's minister responsible for relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, said he's been receiving information from regional partners, including the Kativik Regional Government and the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services, for the past three weeks. 

"They said that they were in control, but about two days ago, they said 'we've decided to launch an emergency,'" he said, referring to the crisis management response that's been activated. 

Two planes loaded with water left Montreal for Puvirnituq on Friday morning. The province's ministry of public security said three more water deliveries are scheduled over the weekend, though that's subject to weather conditions. There is blowing snow in the forecast this weekend. 

 Lafrenière said that although decisions should be made by regional partners on the ground, his government is ready to provide more support as needed. That may mean moving people out of the community.

"If this is the case, we'll be ready to do so. Our planes are ready for that," he said. 

'Running water is a very, very basic thing' 

Dr. Yassen Tcholakov, Nunavik's acting public health director, said they've set up a dedicated monitoring system for illnesses. There's a rise in gastroenteritis, and he believes other illnesses could be spreading because of the water shortage.

"Having running water is a very, very basic thing. That's how we kind of got rid of many diseases, not through fancy medicines or even through vaccines — it's simply having hygiene and sanitation. And that's something that people right now do not have access to," he said. 

While the troubles in Puvirnituq have become acute in recent days, he said such issues are not new and are bound to happen again. 

"Almost all communities operate with very similar systems that are very frail, very prone to failures because they're old," he said.

"They're reliant on many different steps where, along the way, there can be issues going wrong and issues that are completely out of control, from people, environmental issues, storms, bad road conditions."

Lafrenière said he hears calls to move away from the water delivery system in Nunavik, though getting pipes to houses isn't easy. He points to other Arctic communities, like Iqaluit, which do have that system but still rely to some degree on trucked services. 

He also says that in Nunavik, the impact of climate change makes that change difficult. 

"The houses are shifting, houses are breaking. We got a new school that will be remodeled because of the melting of permafrost," he said. 

He points to the tens of millions of dollars each year the provincial government provides, just for training and water infrastructure in Nunavik, but he said the problems in Puvirnituq have highlighted an urgent need to find a long-term solution fast.

"Believe me, we'll be sitting down together to find out what went right and what went wrong."