Crews at Neyaashiinigmiing have identified about 21 leaks in the community's water distribution system as work continues toward eventually lifting a boil-water advisory that has been in place since 2019.
Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation Water Treatment Plant Supervisor Devin Wilhelm says the system is currently losing about 600,000 litres of treated water per day.
That is an improvement from the 600,000 to 650,000 litres recently reported by the First Nation.
"We have fixed one service that was leaking," Wilhelm told CKNX News. "That's reduced it by about 50,000, so it's about 600,000 litres on average per day now."
The losses are spread across two pressure zones in the community.
Wilhelm said leaks have been identified at service connections, fire hydrants and watermains following two rounds of testing by a professional leak detection company.
Nawash staff had already conducted their own investigation and identified a number of problem areas before the outside company was brought in.
"They essentially confirmed pretty well all the areas that we had originally pinpointed," Wilhelm said.
A second round of testing focused heavily on service connections leading toward individual properties.
"Altogether, it's about 21 leaks that we have identified now," he said.
Wilhelm said the scale of the water loss remains far beyond what would normally be expected.
He said a leak of 10,000 to 15,000 litres per day can already be considered severe in a water system.
"The fact that we have about 600,000 litres a day, that's essentially a catastrophic leak in the system," he said.
The community's new water treatment plant began operating in October 2024.
Wilhelm said the plant had some operational problems during its first year, including an issue with its chemical treatment system, but those problems have since been addressed.
"The treatment plant's producing good and clean water," he said.
The remaining concern is the condition of the distribution network.
Wilhelm said leaks can allow contaminated water to enter the system if water pressure suddenly changes, such as during a fire or watermain break.
Because the leaks are spread throughout the network, officials could have difficulty determining where contamination entered and which areas would need to be flushed.
That risk is why the boil-water advisory remains in effect.
"Because we have so many leaks in the system, I'm not comfortable lifting the boil-water advisory until those leaks are taken care of," Wilhelm said.
Wilhelm said he and the community's public health officer currently agree the advisory should remain in place.
Indigenous Services Canada has also said the new treatment plant is capable of producing safe drinking water, but remaining distribution-system deficiencies have to be addressed before the advisory can be lifted.
No target date has been announced.
Wilhelm said the focus has now shifted from finding the leaks to repairing them.
"We've spent about a year looking for these leaks," he said. "We finally found them all, and now we are in the process of trying to get them repaired."
