The City of Iqaluit has hired Tower Arctic Ltd. for just under $800,000 to remediate underground water tanks suspected of fuel contamination.
The contamination caused significant disruption for the community last fall and winter once local officials decided to bypass the local water treatment plant over health concerns.
As an interim measure, the Canadian Armed Forces were brought in under Operation LENTUS to pump, pressurize and filter water from the Sylvia Grinnell River, using reverse osmosis.
Iqaluit officials suspected that a historical underground fuel spill found near the water treatment plant could be the source of the contamination in the reservoirs, which are connected to the Water Treatment Plant North and South Clearwell.
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The request for a decision over the remediation tender came before Iqaluit’s July 26 meeting of council, which chose Tower Arctic as the most economical bid of three. The company has been operating in the region since 1946.
In the spring, Iqaluit received federal funding of more than $214 million to allow the city to create a new reservoir adjacent to Lake Geraldine, which is planned to hold about 1.8 billion litres of water.
