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.
At a presentation to city council on Wednesday, Jeremy Flatt requested that the city endorse a resolution calling for a proportional representation model for federal elections. If city coucnillors decide to support the request, Yellowknife could become the first city in Canada to endorse the alternative federal voting system. Flatt said that some have called it a “more democratic” system.
After more than two decades of operations the Diavik diamond mine announced that it has officially closed production. The mine in operation for over 20 years northeast of the city of Yellowknife processed its last truck of ore on Tuesday.
Leah McShane, a Yellowknife high school student, was just named a Loran Scholar for 2026, out of more than 5,400 applicants across the country. The student from École Sir John Franklin High School made it through four selection rounds to receive the award. “With a little bit of work you can do anything you set your mind to,” said McShane, who hopes she can inspire more youth to follow their dreams.
A new pilot program will connect fluent Indigenous languages speakers to interpreter roles at the N.W.T Legislative Assembly. The pilot program will run from May 2026 to March 2027, with one applicant selected for each of the N.W.T.’s official Indigenous languages: Dene Kǝdǝ́ (North Slavey), Dëne Sųłıné (Chipewyan), Dene Zhatıé (South Slavey), Dinjii Zhuʼ Ginjik (Gwich’in), Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun andTłı̨chǫ.
The Government of the Northwest Territories is reminding residents that dumping garbage, appliances, or construction materials on public land is harmful to the environment and to wildlife and is illegal under territorial legislation.
