Yellowknife’s new water treatment plant opened its doors to visitors for the first time on Monday.
The facility cost a fraction over $30 million to build and began operations this summer, just in time to end a weeks-long boil-water advisory across the city.
Such advisories should be a thing of the past as the new facility boasts an advanced water filtration system.
Moose FM took this photo tour with city staff.
Superintendent Scott Gillard and director of public works Chris Greencorn gave Moose FM a tour.The facility can handle 20 million litres of water per day, and could support more than 30,000 people.At the heart of the facility are new water filters, or membranes, which do a much better job of cleaning the city’s water than was previously the case.Scott Gillard holds up an example of the new water filtration system.Water passes through this filter, which helps to remove particles as tiny as one micron (one thousandth of a millimetre).Gillard believes the new filtration system makes boil-water advisories a thing of the past.These tanks contain sodium hypochlorite. This chemical replaces chlorine in the water cleaning process and is said to be a safer solution.The facility employs three staff and costs around $1.3 million to run each year. Testing of the water supply can be performed on-site.This instrument tests for turbidity, or how much silt and debris is in the water. (When Moose FM toured the facility, turbidity was at around 0.012 NTU. For context, the 2003 boil-water advisory in Yellowknife saw turbidity approach 50 NTU.)These screens are part of the small control centre in one corner of the building, from which operators can inspect the entire system.The next question for Yellowknife is where its water comes from. This is the view from the facility, looking out over Yellowknife Bay. The city could decide to draw water directly from the bay when its old pipe to Yellowknife River comes up for replacement, in the near future.If the city decides to pump water from Yellowknife Bay, contamination from the toxic remnants of nearby Giant Mine will be a concern. This bland corridor could form part of a new arsenic treatment installation if the city decides to go ahead with it.
Liidlii Kue Chief Kele Antoine says that it may be about another week before the evacuation order can be lifted and community members can return. The chief said that following about 30 millimetres of rain on Thursday, crews are continuing to action hotspots and active fire areas of FS016 including the Wildrose area.
West Point and Łutsël K'é have opened the doors of 26 new homes built through two community-led housing projects. The two housing projects were led by Indigenous governments to address locally identified housing priorities. "Indigenous governments are taking the lead in addressing our housing challenges, and I am encouraged to see Housing NWT working alongside the Lutselk'e Dene First Nation to get these homes to the families who need them,"
said MLA Richard Edjericon.
Hundreds of community members engaged in over 21,000 “participACTIONs” in Hay River in June. The community was selected as one of 40 finalists from more than 375 across the country in 2026's ParticipACTION Community Challenge. “Community members participated in events ranging from fitness classes to sports programming to family community events such as the Family Party in the Park, Cardboard Boat Races and Asphalt Art," said Courtney Fraser, Hay River's Recreation Programming Supervisor
FS016 received up to 25 millimetres of rain, "drastically " reducing fire activity on Thursday. The wildfire remains adjacent to Liidlii Kue and Fort Simpson, covering an area over 36,380 hectares according to the latest report by Wildland officials Thursday evening.
An amber alert has sounded in the territory involving two children last seen in B.C. The alert was first issued on Wednesday in Alta. and has been expanded into the neighbouring territories and provinces.
