No Running Water: Boiling mad

By: Helen Fallding Posted: 7:44 AM CST Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010 Last Modified: 9:37 PM CST Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010 | Updates

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HOLLOW WATER FIRST NATION -- Water detective Clarence Peebles is on the case. Every time the water plant operator sees a suspicious puddle -- day or night, his weary wife confirms -- he leaps out of his truck and scoops up some water.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/11/2010 (5116 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HOLLOW WATER FIRST NATION — Water detective Clarence Peebles is on the case. Every time the water plant operator sees a suspicious puddle — day or night, his weary wife confirms — he leaps out of his truck and scoops up some water.

If a test strip dipped in the water turns pink, Peebles knows somewhere under the ground is a pipe leaking his precious chlorine-treated water.

A single pipe break or a running toilet can be enough to overwhelm the community’s aging treatment plant, designed 20 years ago to supply a maximum population of 720 with 180 litres of water per person a day. Winnipeggers use more than 300 litres a day.

JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA
Grandmother Shayle Moneyas with grandchild Xavier. A doctor said the baby’s impetigo skin condition is probably not related to the contaminated water flowing through Hollow Water’s taps, but Moneyas sometimes gets stomach cramps from drinking it. — JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Grandmother Shayle Moneyas with grandchild Xavier. A doctor said the baby’s impetigo skin condition is probably not related to the contaminated water flowing through Hollow Water’s taps, but Moneyas sometimes gets stomach cramps from drinking it.

About 1,000 people now live on the Hollow Water reserve, but it will likely be 2015 before their treatment plant is expanded enough to meet local needs.