Wekweètì’s Alexis Arrowmaker School appears to require only minor work after tests of its water for lead, while schools in Hay River and elsewhere in the South Slave are set to be tested this week.
The NWT government is testing school water for lead territory-wide after elevated levels of the toxic substance came to light in Yellowknife schools earlier this year.
The latest results from Wekweètì were not announced in a news release but were published to the GNWT’s dedicated webpage for its testing.
According to the GNWT, five water fixtures at Alexis Arrowmaker School were tested and only one requires “removing, replacing or mitigating” – a single sink that was reportedly not in use.
“Replacement of fixture or decommissioning of this sink to be finalized,” the GNWT noted.
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Meanwhile, the lead testing schedule for this coming week involves schools across the South Slave.
The GNWT says Hay River’s Harry Camsell School and École Boréale will be tested on Tuesday, then Princess Alexandra School and Fort Resolution’s Deninu School on Wednesday.
Diamond Jenness School and KFN’s Chief Sunrise School are set to be tested on Wednesday.
The outcome of those tests will not be immediately known. The tests must be sent for analysis and the results interpreted by experts before they can be published and acted on.
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In the case of Wekweètì, for example, the tests took place on November 19 but the results only became available to the public in early December.
The scale of the potential lead contamination issue facing NWT schools’ water has grown throughout the summer and into the fall. Five of the first six schools to be tested were found to have levels of lead in their water that were beyond Health Canada safe limits.
Last week, education minister Caitlin Cleveland said any NWT school can now switch to alternative water sources rather than wait for tests to be carried out, and the GNWT will cover “reasonable costs” of doing so.
