Temporary pipe installed in Puvirnituq, Que., amid water emergency

Water is starting to flow through a temporary pipeline in Puvirnituq, Que., amid an ongoing water shortage in the community. 

Workers spent most of Wednesday unrolling a roughly three kilometre long flexible pipe that bypasses a section of the permanent pipe that froze mid-March. This critical corridor connects the water pumping station to the treatment plant. 

The blockage, coupled with hazardous weather conditions, has restricted water delivery across the community of 2,100 people and led to a state of emergency on Saturday.

The situation has resulted in school closures, and some hospital patients to be sent south for care.

Hilda Snowball, chairperson of the Kativik Regional Government (KRG), said on Wednesday that they've started filling up the water pumping station, though there's still ongoing work to clear the snow on the road to the station and sewage lagoon.

"The temporary pipeline will fill up the water pumping station where the water trucks get their water from, so it will continue delivering water to each resident," she said.

Truck drivers from neighbouring Inukjuak have also been helping out with deliveries. 

Puvirnituq mayor Lucy Qalingo says things are looking up for her community and she's hopeful the interim measures will be fully operational by Sunday. 

"Roads are thawing, the snow is thawing, the sun is shining," she said. 

Roughly 120,000 litres of water has been flown in, alongside sanitary products. Service points have been set up at the primary school and hospital. These are places places where people can access necessities, such as bottled water, sanitary products and disposable utensils. 

A dozen local Canadian Rangers have been activated to help distribute supplies. 

Those rangers were already helping out unofficially in the community prior to the federal emergency management minister approving that request. Though Snowball, the chairperson of the KRG, said the official deployment means the Canadian Rangers can alleviate some of the expenses of the relief efforts. 

Funding is 'peanuts'

Deliveries of supplies will continue until the state of emergency is lifted, Snowball said.

After that the focus will be on fixing the pipe that froze, which can't happen until summer. A heating wire, which prevents water from freezing during the winter, has reached the end of its life.

"It was impossible to thaw the area where the pipeline froze, so there will have to be construction on the pipeline during the summer once the ground is unfrozen," Snowball said. 

Determining why the pipe froze will also be a priority for the Quebec government.

In 2023, the KRG signed a five year deal with the Quebec government which provides $163 million for municipal infrastructure.

While Snowball appreciates that funding, she said the amount is "peanuts" when it's spread across 14 Nunavik villages.

She uses the example of the renovation of a childcare facility in another Nunavik village costing roughly $7 million. She said water infrastructure is particularly outdated in the region and there are three villages looking to do repairs on pipes.

"They're now 15 to 20 year old infrastructure, which is why we are seeing a lot of damage with the pipelines," she said. 

"As well, the service trucks … before the pandemic we purchased trucks at about $300,000. Now they're at $600,000. It will require a lot of funding to really catch up."

Ian Lafrenière, Quebec's minister responsible for relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, has reiterated his desire to conduct a post-mortem after the emergency phase is over, though he doesn't believe money is the issue.

"I heard people talking about the lack of money and the funding in the last agreement that we gave KRG. There was still some money in the agreement that was leftover," he said. 

"So is it capacity? Is it logistic? Is it the way that we work together? I want to establish what happened because this is humanly not acceptable."