The City of Yellowknife has switched back to drawing water from its Yellowknife River pipe after several days taking water from the bay as a backup.
On Wednesday last week, the city told regulators it was switching to Yellowknife Bay as its source of drinking water because of the sheer number of leaks across the municipality, which has endured a series of extremely cold days.
In an emailed update to regulators on Tuesday this week, City Hall said it was making the switch back again.
The bay is easier to draw from in an emergency because it has a bigger intake, so the city can quickly process more water to make up for major breaks in the system.
The river, however, is considered the safer option. The city ordinarily uses an 8.5-km underwater pipe to take water from Yellowknife River in part to avoid the risk of Giant Mine, the bayside site of a former gold mine, contaminating the bay’s water.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
The risk of that happening is low. Unless something major fails at Giant Mine, water in Yellowknife Bay is considered safe by the mine remediation team and the municipality. The city has in the past called the bay and river “two pristine sources” of water.
Even so, reports have concluded the Yellowknife River (which is upstream of Giant) should remain the preferred option.
