on-reserve

Environmental consultant provides update on fuel leak south of Quesnel

Environmental consultant provides update on fuel leak south of Quesnel

An update on the area of notification connected to the fuel leak at the Lhtako Gas & Convenience Store has been provided. SLR Consulting, the environmental consultant hired by Lhtako, says the area of notification for tap water sampling includes 36 separate legal properties off-reserve, and 1 on-reserve property. It says 30 off-reserve properties and the 1 on-reserve property have been tested as 4 of the legal properties share a well with an adjacent property and one has no building and is not occupied. SLR says to date the water on just 3 properties have been identified as having concentrations of gasoline-related parameters above Health Canada and provincial drinking water criteria.

Members of Neskantaga come home today to boil water advisory

Members of Neskantaga come home today to boil water advisory

Another factor in the chief's decision is the fact that the plant still isn't running at capacity. It's designed to produce 3.8 litres of water per second for each of its two treatment lines, but the most it can produce now is less than three litres, according to project progress reports obtained by CBC News. "The amount would still meet the [community's] need," said Lalita Bharadwaj, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan who studies access to safe drinking water in First Nations. "But it raises concerns about the sustainability of the system, and operations and management of the system." Bharadwaj said there should be four operators working at the plant — two who are certified and two others from the local community who can receive training, which she said could take years.