Iqaluit's 'Waterless Wednesdays' won't return anytime soon, says committee

Iqaluit'sso-called"Waterless Wednesdays"won't be coming back anytime soon.

That was the message from the city's public works committee, which met last night to discuss the controversial policy of not delivering water to homes and business on trucked services on Wednesdays.

The policy, which was unilaterally brought into effect by the city administration last year, was suspended after a citycouncil vote onApril 27. Wednesday's meeting sawcity administration presentdatafor the first time, showing howthe six-day service compared to last year's seven-day delivery schedule.

• Water back on Wednesdays: Iqaluit council votes to resume water delivery

"By removing one day from the service schedule, it essentially forces the system to be more efficient," said Matthew Hamp, the city's director of engineering and public works. "Ideally, you would want to deliver as much as possible on one delivery and have each resident use as much as possible of their tank before you have to fill it up...and we are seeing that in these numbers."

Hamppresented data whichshowed a decrease in the average number of deliveries per home per week from five to four along with an increase in the average volume per delivery, from 443 litres to 630 litres.

That increased efficiency, said Hamp, corresponded with a modest savings of$10,000in salaries over the last seven months.In 2015, Iqaluit's Water and Sewer Fund accrued a deficit of $648,830 dollars,making itthe only city fundto add to thedeficit.

In the data presented, the city estimatedthat 25 homes had struggled with the lack ofwater delivery one day a week. Hamp saidthe families struggled because their water tanks were smaller than average, andthey consumed higher than average amounts of water.

Councillor Romeyn Stevenson asked Hamp if the high levels of consumption were due to overcrowding, but Hamp said he couldn't glean the answer from the data the city had gathered.

Ultimately, the committee decided it would not recommend a return to no truckedwater delivery on Wednesdays or any other restrictions on water delivery until further public outreach was done and a plan was made to assist the 25 most affected homes.

"Every dollar that is saved is worth it," saidcouncillorKuthulaMatshazi. "But the flip side, as I have always argued, is that we need to make sure everyone has got [accessto]water."