Rashes, nail fungus plague water-rationed community

Constance Lake community members are blaming trucked-in water for rashes and nail fungal infections.
“My community has been without clean water for months,” said Constance Lake Chief Arthur Moore.
“We need a long-term solution to resolve this crisis. People don’t have enough water for drinking and the water provided for bathing could possibly be causing infection.”
In the past couple weeks, Constance Lake has experienced an increase in the number of patients going to the health clinic showing similar symptoms: rashes and nail fungal infections.
Although there is no proof that these symptoms stem from water being distributed in the community, many in the First Nation believe they are related.
“Health Canada is responsible for monitoring water quality on reserve,” said Susan E. Bertrand, manager, communications north Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, in an e-mail message.
Bertrand said INAC has committed $203,000 to truck water from a local co-generation plant that filters and treats water drawn from the Kabina River.
“While the co-generation plant does not treat the water for drinking, once the water is delivered to Constance Lake’s water treatment plant, it is disinfected using a procedure developed by the plant operators and the Ontario Clean Water Agency,” Bertrand said.
“According to regular Health Canada analysis, the disinfected water meets both Canadian and Ontario guidelines. Because the water sometimes appears cloudy, a boil water advisory has been recommended to provide added protection.”
Bertrand said Constance Lake purchases and hauls water from the Town of Hearst when the water obtained from the co-generation plant has very high turbidity levels.
“Tenders to connect the well to the water treatment plant and to repair the filtration system closed on Thursday Dec. 2,” Bertrand said. “Work is expected to begin shortly after the First Nation awards the contract.”
Constance Lake has been without a permanent water supply for about five months due to a blue-green algae build-up this past summer on the lake that was the community’s main supply of water.
The community’s water treatment plant was unable to filter the algae, so the community has since been relying on water that is trucked into the community from the local co-generation plant on a daily basis for bathing, toilets, laundry and dish washing, Moore explained.
The water is chlorinated at the water treatment plant before it is distributed, but a boil water advisory has remained in place as the quality of water arriving from the co-generation plant is uncertain at this time and cannot be assessed by the community.
“I am calling on the government to take responsibility and ensure that our community has enough drinking water,” Moore said.
“Right now, my people are not even receiving enough for basic health maintenance. INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) has failed to accept accountability for our people, leaving the crisis and the rising costs to the First Nation.”
The community has been purchasing additional supplies of water for community members so they can still use 4.5 litres of bottled water per person. INAC has previously indicated it would reduce the supply of bottled water to 1.5 litres per person per day.
Moore said the bottled water shipment costs about $50,000 for a population of 900 on-reserve band members for a period of about four months.
A recently drilled well should be connected to the community’s water distribution system by the end of January or early February so bottled water would no longer be needed.
Moore said in early December that INAC’s supply of 1.5 litres of drinking water per person is unrealistic when cooking and food preparation is considered.