Ten questions (and answers) about lead in NWT school drinking water

Why did elevated lead in school water suddenly become an issue this year in the NWT? Is it only a problem in schools? And what else do you need to know?

We’ve been asking questions of the territorial government and so have regular MLAs, who held a briefing with various ministers on Wednesday evening.

On this page, we’ve set out 10 big questions and provided all the answers we have so far.

If you only have 30 seconds, the headline is: community-wide water does not have a lead problem but some older buildings do because of fixtures in their plumbing.

Those fixtures – lead solder in some pipes dating to before 1990, or some brass fixtures installed before 2014 – can leach lead into water, causing a problem.

Lead is a concern because it’s toxic. In adults, that can mean problems with your heart, kidneys or reproductive health. It’s considered more serious if children are exposed because it can affect brain development.

Why has this become an issue?

In 2019, Health Canada tightened its guidelines on lead, reducing the maximum acceptable concentration from 0.01 to 0.005 mg/L.

That led to tests and concerns in some parts of Canada – particularly in southern cities with antiquated pipes, which isn’t an issue in the NWT because those pipes were never used in the first place or were replaced long ago.

However, just because the municipal pipes aren’t an issue, that doesn’t mean the water is entirely lead-free. Old fixtures can cause problems.

After observing tests done elsewhere, the GNWT began a pilot testing program for Yellowknife schools in late 2024. By mid-2025, after some delays and botched communication, the results of that pilot became worrisome enough to trigger more rigorous territory-wide testing. Those are the results we’re seeing now.

Many of the tests triggering alerts now would have been fine pre-2019, officials say, but they don’t meet Health Canada’s new guideline. However, there is no level at which lead is considered “safe.” Any amount in the water could cause harm.

Is this a problem in my community drinking water?

All available evidence suggests the answer is no.

Ministers said this multiple times at a briefing in the legislature on Wednesday evening.

“There are no concerns with municipal water supplies,” said health minister Lesa Semmler, for example. “This issue relates to fixtures inside certain school buildings. Some schools may have older plumbing components or fixtures that contain lead.”

Cabin Radio has reviewed test results for the broader water supply in every NWT community. In 2024, the latest territory-wide data available, no community reported lead levels above the Health Canada guideline.

The City of Yellowknife has been clear throughout the past year that its own tests show no lead concern in the municipal water supply.

Schools where a lead problem has been identified, and suspect fixtures have been replaced, are subsequently producing tests that show the problem has gone away – suggesting the fixtures, not the broader water supply, were indeed the issue.

Why do fixtures cause an issue in schools?

In 1986, Canada banned the use of lead solder in plumbing. However, that ban did not take full effect until 1990.

Meanwhile, some brass fixtures used until 2014 could contain enough lead to cause a problem. (Even now, with stricter rules, there’s still a tiny chance of that.)

Some NWT schools are nearly seven decades old, and many of the ones where issues have been identified were built in the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s – an era when the plumbing was likely to contain either lead solder or older brass fixtures.

Over time, those fixtures will have deteriorated, adding to the problem.

The GNWT’s Department of Infrastructure performs multiple tests at each fixture in a school to try to identify the problem areas, then those fixtures are replaced.

The full protocol for the current lead tests is set out on the GNWT’s website.

Why haven’t all schools been tested already?

Some regular MLAs and community-level officials have raised concern about the length of time being taken to test the NWT’s more than 40 schools.

“Water testing in other contexts does not take months to complete, it takes a few weeks at most. The concern is: why is it taking so long?” Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart said on Wednesday evening.

The Department of Infrastructure said time is taken up by the number of tests at each fixture and the need to let water sit before performing certain tests. The NWT’s chief environmental officer, Chirag Rohit, said only laboratory in the territory can take and assess the tests, adding to the time before results come back.

At the moment, the GNWT is suggesting it’ll take until the end of the 2025-26 academic year to get through every school.

“I think I and many people assumed there would be testing over the summer,” said Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan. “It seems to have been months and months, and I think people are frustrated with the ongoing delays.”

Chief public health officer Dr Kami Kandola said, however, that doing the tests while students are in school is Health Canada’s recommendation, so you are stress-testing the system during maximum use.

Is this just schools, or could it be other buildings?

It’s almost certainly other buildings, too. Any building built at a similar time could have had similar plumbing installed, and that plumbing could have similar issues now.

Schools are the priority, the GNWT says, because elevated levels of lead are considered to be a particular risk to the health of young children.

Will other buildings be tested, then?

Cathy Maniego, the Department of Infrastructure’s deputy minister, said the GNWT is figuring out which other buildings ought to be prioritized according to both building age and the age of the people using it.

Health centres, for example, may need testing, or other GNWT facilities where young people spend a lot of time.

“That sort of thing will all be considered for prioritization over the next few months, and we’ll be able to share more as we have that available,” Maniego said. (Great Slave MLA Kate Reid responded: “Is it really that complicated that it will take several months to identify GNWT buildings where youth are present?”)

Privately owned buildings will not be tested by the territorial government.

“There are other buildings out there, including private residences, that could fall under this. We don’t own those buildings,” said infrastructure minister Vince McKay.

“Certain buildings require fire extinguishers. We don’t pay for those fire extinguishers,” he said, using an analogy to explain why the GNWT does not believe testing privately owned buildings is its concern. “There are different responsibilities out there.”

If youth are the concern, what about childcare facilities?

The GNWT appears to be sticking to its line that if the childcare facility is privately owned, it won’t go in and do any testing – but it will offer support.

“We’re currently working with jurisdictions across Canada to understand how they’re doing work to support childcare providers,” said education minister Caitlin Cleveland, “to ensure we can also share that best practices information with childcare providers in the NWT as well.”

Could there be legal consequences?

Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins asked how much the GNWT had thought about issues of liability related to the presence of elevated lead.

“I’m a lawyer and I can tell you that we are not concerning ourselves with liability right now,” replied Department of Education, Culture and Employment deputy minister James Fulford.

“Our focus is 100-percent on getting the testing done and the results in. If liability becomes an issue, it becomes an issue and we’ll deal with it then.”

What is the cost of all of this?

That isn’t clear. (Some officials have also privately suggested that the cost is immaterial for the moment, given the need to assess and mitigate the risk.)

McKay said the testing itself costs about $1,500 per school, plus the costs of sending staff to the school, accommodation and so on.

The costs to date of replacing plumbing where necessary have not been reported.

How do I test my own property or get my blood tested?

The GNWT has some limited advice on its webpage dedicated to the tests in schools.

For health-related queries like blood testing, your best bet may be a call to the non-emergency 811 line, where nurses will be able to explain more about how effective that is, what it’ll tell you and when you might decide to book a test.

The federal government has a lengthy Q&A related to lead. News outlets elsewhere in Canada have published guides to assessing your water.