CBC – Attawapiskat declares a state of emergency over state of drinking water. Tap water shows potentially harmful levels of disinfection by-products. Pro-longed exposure to THMs and HAAs can cause skin irritation and could increase the risk of cancer, according to a consultant report prepared for the community.

THMs and HAAs cannot be cleared through boiling water. Attawapiskat has long struggled with THM and HAA levels due to the high level of naturally occurring organic material in the lake where the community draws its water. Attawapiskat Chief Ignace Gull said the issue goes back to the 1970s when Ottawa decided use the lake water, which was originally intended to only feed the school, homes for teachers and the nursing station, to supply the whole community. “It wasn’t meant for the community,” he said. “We didn’t have indoor plumbing at that time.” At the same time as Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency over its ongoing water problems, Catherine McKenna the Minister for the Environment boasted about the world leading quality of tap water in Ottawa.

The only lasting solution to the nagging water woes would be to change the community’s water source to the Attawapiskat River — a conclusion reached by studies in 2008 and 2011. A new water source is also part of a broader plan for a desperately needed expansion of the community, which is bursting at the seams and pushing its existing water and wastewater systems to a near breaking point. The cost of the expansion is estimated at about $300 million to $400 million over 20 years.