Marten Falls FN dealing with water crisis with sewage plant failure
Nishnawbe Aski Nation press release ...
NAN Chief demands action before another Kashechewan
THUNDER BAY, ON, Oct. 3 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief Stan Beardy supports Marten Falls First Nation Chief Eli Moonias as he demands immediate rectification of a water and sewer emergency declared by he and council after a July sewage spill in the remote, fly-in community approximately 500 km northeast of Thunder Bay.
"Our concern is the danger of the continuing spillage of effluent into the pristine Albany River threatening to contaminate our water intake which is downstream from the spill," said Eli Moonias, Chief of Marten Falls First Nation also known as Ogoki Post and one of 49 First Nation communities part of NAN.
"Myself and the council realized the danger back in July and reported it immediately to the provincial spill agency which in turn advised INAC, Health Canada, and the federal department of the Environment," he added. "Despite recommendations from an Environmental Health Officer, federal government agencies didn't act with the urgency required in matters of health and instead are using regular bureaucratic processes causing delays in repairs and long-term upgrades."
Moonias' comments come after a July 17th sewage spill occurred upstream of the water intake in his community of approximately 300 people - similar to the situation that led to the presence of e-coli in the drinking water in Kashechewan First Nation and subsequent evacuation of 1,700 people last October.
The July 2006 sewage spill was a result of a lightning strike to the lift station of the water treatment plant destroying its automatic function. As a temporary fix, the community operator ran the lift station manually, however shut-downs caused by over-heating resulted in sewage overflows, a subsequent spill into the Albany River September 8th, and continued raw sewage overflow still occurring today.
In addition to this year's sewage overflow and spills, turbidity, slow filtration rates, and the lack of capacity of the current water treatment plant not only resulted in a boil water advisory one year prior, but continues to deteriorate water quality in Marten Falls today.
The lacking capacity of the current water treatment plant forces the community to shut it down overnight in order for it to fill enough to circulate properly. Limited to no water is available during this time, increasing the community's vulnerability to fire.
"The federal government wants to fix this problem with a business-as-usual attitude and since Marten Falls isn't on the INAC priority list of communities with most-urgent need of repairs for water and sewer, it could be years before an upgrade is done to satisfy and rectify the whole situation," said Moonias, adding water plant upgrades typically take three years to complete once on the list.
"If this isn't going to be recognized as an emergency situation by the feds, we really have no other choice but to go about having it fixed ourselves because the longer we wait the more chance there is for contamination to occur, especially due to the limited filtration capacity. The danger of something like the crisis of Kashechewan happening in Marten Falls is growing daily."
In a September 25th letter Health Canada advised boiling drinking water must continue in Marten Falls and recommended bottled water be made available to all members of the community until necessary repairs are made to the water treatment plant.
It's expected Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) will follow up to Health Canada's recommendation. INAC was aware of a boil water advisory in the community one year prior to the July 2006 spill.
"It's almost one year since the evacuations of Kashechewan and we said then it was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of faulty water treatment plants and design flaws across NAN territory," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy who represents NAN communities within James Bay Treaty 9, including Kashechewan and Marten Falls. "It seems like every solution is simply a band-aid on top of another band-aid which clearly isn't working and costing governments more in the long-run."
Beardy's comments come about one month after the Safe Drinking Water Panel concluded its public hearings across Canada. The panel did not visit any NAN First Nation communities directly.
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/For further information: Jenna Young, Director of Communications, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, (807) 625-4952, (807) 628-3953 (mobile)/