Terri Naskan stands in front of her home in Edzo and surveys the scene. Water pipes lie in pieces across her front yard next to a large pit partially covered by an orange tarp —a few discarded shovels nearby. 

Naskan says her front yard has been like this for month and a fix isn’t coming any time soon.  

Her predicament began in January, when the cold weather caused her water and sewage lines to freeze. She said she spent two weeks trying to connect with the right people to find out what assistance services were available. 

It was a frustrating process, she said. 

When workers did come to Naskan’s home, they couldn’t get very far. 

After the pipes were pulled out, Naskan said they realized the ground was too frozen to complete the work. She was told work would resume when the frost thawed, something that won’t happen until the summer months.    

Now, without running water, Naskan and the six others who live with her, have to haul water jugs into the home for dishes and cooking. Honey buckets act as makeshift toilets.

There’s no place to do laundry or take a shower in the home, so the family must go to the neighbour’s to use their facilities or alternate between a two-bedroom unit in Rae that was temporarily given to them. 

Naskan said they only have access to the rooms in Rae until the end of March. 

According to the community’s chief, Bertha Rabesca Zoe, this year has been “the worst one so far” for frozen pipes in the community, particularly for service lines to individual homes. 

Rabesca Zoe partly attributes this to the cold, but also said some fault lies in the pipes’ aging infrastructure. She said most haven’t been replaced in over 50 years. 

“We’re dealing with an old, old system and things get corroded and with climate change things get shifted.” Rabesca Zoe said. “There’s been a lot more this year than any other year and with the cold snaps we’ve been having, it’s been really difficult to [thaw].” 

Like Naskan, Rabesca Zoe said frozen pipes are affecting the quality of life for many residents.

“They’re experiencing fatigue and it creates mental health issues. Not only that, but public health issues,” she said. “They can’t take showers, they can’t do laundry. They can’t do anything with water in their home because there is no water.” 

A particularly bad winter

Jody Poitras is the manager at Pick’s Steam, a company that provides many services including thawing frozen pipes. 

She said they’ve been getting calls from the Behchokǫ̀ area, but that Yellowknife has been hit hard too. 

“This year has been an anomaly,” she said. “The frost is so deep in the ground we’re averaging 35 new phone calls every day.” 

Poitras believes the lack of snow in December paired with temperatures that “got really cold really fast” caused frost to burrow deep into the ground. 

With old pipe infrastructure, like those in Behchokǫ̀, Poitras said when it freezes and thaws it usually splits — similar to a pop can splitting when it freezes, which takes an even longer time to fix. 

Poitras suspects they will still be thawing sewer lines, “well into June.” 

Funding for affected infrastructure 

Rabesca Zoe said she’s lobbied the federal government since she became chief in June last year.

“I know it’s an ambitious project, but these are old systems and we can’t continue the experience we went through this winter.”

Rabesca Zoe said she’s submitted an application for funding to Infrastructure Canada.

Her proposal asks for money to replace the water pipes and relocate two water intake stations in Edzo and Behchokǫ̀. It’s a step she said might be necessary due to the low water levels on Marion Lake, which prompted the community government to ask residents to conserve water last week. 

She also pointed to the $74 million from the federal government that’s part of the Northwest Territories Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.

She said she’s advocating for money from those funds as well as from the federal government, but didn’t have anything concrete to share yet.

Although Naskan is taking her situation in stride, she said something needs to change.   

“For me it’s a health hazard, Naskan said. “It’s something that our people need to look at and prioritize what needs to be done this year before we have an emergency.”