For half the year, residents in this Nunavik community say they bathe in yellow water – CBC

May 23, 2024

Aupaluk residents fed up with lack of safe drinking water

Rebecca Wynn describes what she sees coming out of her taps in Aupaluk, Que. as “yellow, pee-ish water.”

She said she also has to take medication before every shower, because of the amount of chlorine injected into the town’s water supply to kill off any bacteria.

“It gets angry red-coloured and I get super itchy. I already have a couple of different skin issues so [the water] is just exacerbating that,” Wynn said.

For half the year, that’s the reality for the community’s 250 residents, situated on the shores of Ungava Bay.

In the summer, Aupaluk Mayor David Angutinguak said they get clean drinking water from a river a couple of kilometres out of town, but access to that river freezes by November.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nunavik-community-yellow-drinking-water-1.7211420