Selawik lost its drinking water about a month ago on Aug. 28. Community members say the water has been restored. But with winter rapidly approaching, some of the 800 residents in the Northwest Arctic community still worry about the town's water situation.
Tanya Ballot is Selawik’s mayor and the administrator for the village’s tribe. Ballot said that the City of Selawik is in “financial disarray” and hadn't been able to pay for alum and soda ash – two chemicals needed to adequately purify its water. She said the chemicals cost about $2000, plus an additional $4200 to air freight to the community. Ballot did not say how long a shipment of the treatment chemicals would last the village.
“The city's revenue is very, very limited,” Ballot said. “Our customers are not paying their bills for us to pay our bills and so it's just a ripple effect.”
The community’s school closed for the first week of school because of the lack of potable water. Some residents resorted to hauling water from the nearby Selawik River or collecting rainwater for day-to-day activities like flushing toilets and laundry.
Many residents have relied on bottled water donated from NANA Regional Corporation and support from the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, according to Ballot. But the donated bottles go fast. At Selawik’s main grocery store, a case of 24 bottles of water costs over 40 dollars, and that’s only if it’s in stock.
Water from nearby rivers and streams aren’t viable solutions for drinking water because of giardia – also known as beaver fever – a parasite which can cause diarrhea and other symptoms.
The water plant chemicals arrived two weeks ago, but there were challenges because of a bad water pump, according to a representative from Selawik’s Tribe. Ballot said the city has advised residents to boil water flowing from pipes for at least two minutes.
Clyde Ramoth is a former mayor and sits on Selawik’s Tribal Council. He worried that if the issues are not resolved before winter, it could compound the community's existing water and infrastructure challenges and pose additional health and sanitation concerns.
“We're haunted by our situation —the way things were designed— because of climate change,” Ramoth said. “A lot of our pipes and doors are going left and right, and it's something beyond control.”
The water levels of the Selawik River this year were the highest he’s seen. For Selawik – a community that rests on top of tundra swamps, connected by boardwalks – high water and aging infrastructure all add to the community's struggles.
Ramoth said it's a race against time. Selawik has struggled with above-ground pipes freezing during cold months like from October to April. Water and sewer regularly gets cut off to a large section of town for months.
Ramoth said although the water is running now, the pressure is off and he says there might be other issues with the water infrastructure. Ramoth said workers have been replacing insulating foam on the community's water lines.
“Hopefully they'll make some repairs before the winter sets in,” he said.
Ramoth said that although the city is no longer on a boil water notice, he still boils and filters his household’s drinking water.
