Saskatchewan First Nations leaders say they won’t lift a decade-old boil water advisory until all households in the region have access to clean water directly from local treatment plants. .
Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) can recommend lifting a boil water advisory, but ultimately that decision rests with local chiefs and councils.
Phi Peekisis First Nation, located about 110 kilometers northeast of Regina, has been under a boil water advisory since 2014 after several issues were discovered at its water treatment plant. Although the factory has been renovated and can now produce clean water, many homes do not have a direct line.
“Heirs have come back to the federal government and said they’re not going to lift the boil water advisory until we get clean drinking water to every household across the country,” said Cordell Pinay, director of capital and community infrastructure for PHP. ” he said.
Pinet said there are 154 homes in the area, but only 22 have water pipes that connect directly to the water treatment plant, all in new subdivisions. His 132 homes, which do not have direct lines, get their water from cisterns or private wells.
The water in the tank is transported by truck from the treatment plant. Pinet said this means there are multiple ways water can become contaminated. Trucks and reservoirs are difficult to clean and in some cases old.
“The infrastructure is aging, much of it is cracked and contaminated,” he said.
He said people have seen animals crawling into water tanks.
“This is not a healthy system for our community,” Pinet said.
Pinet said the cost of building water to each home is estimated to be about $10 million in 2021. Part of the problem is how far many of the homes in Phi Phi Kisis are from the main water supply.
ISC spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper said in a statement that ISC will fund up to 100 percent of the capital cost of direct water to a home if the home’s lot frontage averages 30 meters or less. In Peepikisis, home is even further away.
In a statement, the ISC said it would support other alternatives, such as truck delivery services, where the average site frontage exceeds 30 meters, as in P-P-Kisis.
“ISC is committed to working with the Peepikis Cree Nation to provide safe and reliable water service to the homes of local residents,” the statement said. “This includes funding to cover 50% of the costs associated with residential connections and 50% of costs associated with engineering and project management, as well as a proposal to share the costs of the work to install the pipe network. included.”
Mayor Blaine Pinay, an elder in the community, said he and others had become ill from the dirty water.
He talked about traveling to Ottawa and seeing a city full of people where everyone had access to clean water from the tap.
“Why don’t we have what they have?” he asked. “They have good water. We are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to taking care of our people. We wanted to share this land and now we have to suffer for it. ”
The chief said for indigenous peoples and other nations, the goal is simple.
“We want every country to be able to turn on the tap and drink the water.”
