The NWT government says testing has confirmed elevated lead levels at some water fixtures at Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchokǫ̀.
The school shared a notice to its Facebook page on Tuesday, advising students, staff and families that testing found 17 water fixtures had lead levels above the maximum acceptable concentration for Canadian drinking water guidelines.
The school said some of those fixtures were regularly used for drinking water or food preparation. It said all of the affected fixtures were now out of service and alternative water sources are being used for drinking and food preparation.
In its own public notice later on Tuesday, the Department of Infrastructure said the NWT’s chief public health officer had issued a public health order for the school.
The department said it is working to identify and implement remediation measures such as replacing the affected fixtures or installing filters.
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It said use of the affected fixtures would only resume once new safety systems are in place and follow-up testing confirms they meet drinking water standards.
Last month, the territorial government said testing had found elevated lead levels at some water fixtures at Elizabeth Mackenzie Elementary School in Behchokǫ̀.
The territory launched a formal testing protocol for NWT schools in October 2025 after a third-party investigation identified systemic issues related to an initial, failed water testing pilot that began in late 2024.
So far, testing has confirmed elevated lead levels at some schools in Aklavik, Dettah, Fort Good Hope, Fort Resolution, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Kátł’odeeche First Nation, Tsiigehtchic, Ulukhaktok and Yellowknife.
In January, the NWT’s chief public health officer lifted public health orders for École William McDonald Middle School and N.J. Macpherson School in Yellowknife after the territory confirmed that lead levels in the schools’ drinking water no longer exceeded national guidelines.
The GNWT has said it will support education bodies that choose to provide alternate drinking water as a precaution until testing and remediation are complete and will reimburse “reasonable, cost-effective expenses so that no school hesitates to act out of concern for budget impacts.”
