Sewage in the sink: Frozen utility lines in Iqaluit cause chaos for Stoneridge residents

Residents at the Stoneridge apartments in Iqaluit, who have been waiting for more than a week for a solution to their frozen pipes, can now at least shower at a different building and haul water back to their homes.

But for Maxine Chubbs, that solution is too little, too late. It also does nothing to stop the smell of raw sewage from filling her apartment, where frozen sewer lines have caused sewage to back up into her sink and flow out of the building.

Chubbs, who lives in Stoneridge, says the water pipes to the building froze 10 days ago, when water was shut down city-wide on March 1.

She says she called the emergency housing line for six days before they set up an apartment at a different building so she and other Stoneridge residents could shower, do their laundry and fetch water.

But she says the issue has just gotten worse as the building owner, Northview, and the city pass the responsibility for the frozen pipes back and forth.

"Two days ago, sewage started to freeze, and for the last day and a half there has been sewage in my kitchen sink," she said.

"The city's saying housing is the problem; housing is saying the city is the problem. So then, while that's happening, everything continues to freeze."

Simon Doiron, Iqaluit's director of public works, said the city's water and wastewater mains are working normally.

"To my knowledge, there are plumbing issues within the building that [are] affecting water and sewer service to Stoneridge," he said.

Chubbs said the Nunavut Housing Corporation is letting them use a unit down the street now for showering, laundry and hauling water, which comes as a relief. It's still an inconvenience, though — she doesn't own a car, and says there's a young family in her building who doesn't have one, either.

"It's an easy thing to say, 'Go fetch water, go to the river, go to someone's house.' But then you're lugging five-gallon buckets of water and maybe a couple of kids with you, and your laundry," she said.

"There's not enough being done — definitely not."

Attempted fix

Chubbs shared emails with the CBC from the Nunavut Housing Corporation.

Those emails show residents were told Monday there was a "major issue" with the main water line to the building, but the City of Iqaluit couldn't repair the line because it would require digging up the road.

It laid out a potential fix: Northview could restore water by running a line from one of their other buildings to Stoneridge, thereby bypassing the main line and getting water restored to residents by Wednesday.

It also noted the Nunavut Housing Corporation would provide jugs of water to each household, which could be refilled as needed.

But an update Friday said the potential fix hadn't gone as planned — the water shutdown had caused about 20 leaks, which needed to be repaired.

"This unfortunately requires a few leaks to be sourced, then a water shutdown to the entire building to repair, then repeat the process," the update stated.

The update said residents would be notified once all repairs were completed.

CBC reached out to Northview but did not hear back.