Search is on for new water source in Umiujaq, Que., as local spring dries up

Samuel Wat · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 05, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

The assemblage of Umiujaq, Que., is looking for a caller root of drinking water, aft its h2o reservoir was recovered bare past year. 

Next to the village's h2o attraction works is simply a ample reservoir to store h2o collected during the summer. When it's full, it tin clasp astir 2 years' worthy of h2o for the community. 

Hossein Shafeghati, the Kativik Regional Government's municipal nationalist works director, said helium was notified successful March 2024 that the reservoir had nary much water. He brought successful researchers from Université Laval to investigate. 

The researchers' mentation is that the outpouring that Umiujaq draws h2o from has dried up, and thawing permafrost could beryllium to blame. 

"They judge that the permafrost mightiness person degraded and changed the slope. So that h2o is going determination other [away from the reservoir]," Shafeghati said. 

Last summer, the researchers flew successful pumps to extract h2o from a part of the stream further north, to guarantee determination is capable supply.

In the coming months, immoderate of the researchers volition beryllium backmost successful Umiujaq to look for a new, imperishable h2o root adjacent the community. 

Challenges of location

Richard Fortier is 1 of the researchers progressive successful the hunt for a caller source. His squad has identified respective imaginable sites, but each person logistical challenges. One conception of a section river, for example, is adjacent a landfill. 

"If you privation to usage the aboveground h2o successful the river, you person to pump the h2o uphill of the dump and the wastewater pump. Otherwise if you instrumentality it downhill, you are susceptible to the contamination from the dump and the wastewater pump," Fortier said.

That would mean a much analyzable — and costly — construction job. 

Another researcher, Jean-Michel Lemieux, besides floats the thought of underground h2o arsenic a imaginable source, similar successful the different Nunavik communities of Salluit and Kuujuaraapik. The warmth from a assemblage of h2o tin make taliks – layers of unfrozen crushed wrong a permafrost region.

Lemieux, who's studied the country for a decade, said determination is simply a vale with groundwater, though it's respective kilometres distant from the village. But helium believes it could beryllium worthy it, fixed groundwater is amended prime – and tastes amended — than aboveground water.

"The ungraded people filters the water, so there's bacteria, there's viruses. So the stone prime of the h2o that could beryllium pumped from an aquifer is overmuch better."

Once a viable caller h2o root is identified, the Kativik Regional Government volition request to get it approved with Quebec's Environment Ministry. 

It volition besides instrumentality clip to physique caller infrastructure, truthful Shafeghati anticipates the full process could take up to 5 years. 

Other impacts of clime change

Thawing permafrost, connected areas with a slope, tin origin progressive furniture detachment.

"That is erstwhile that progressive furniture sitting connected the slope loses the attachment to the permafrost and past it slides down the slope. That's wherever you person landslides," Shafeghati explained.

The roadworthy to Umiujaq's airdrome could beryllium astatine risk, helium said, though helium doesn't judge different parts of the colony volition request to beryllium relocated due to the fact that of permafrost degradation. However, it will beryllium a origin successful wherever they take the caller h2o root to beryllium situated.

Last week, the Quebec authorities announced $1.85 million for landslide probe successful Nunavik. The state said that wealth volition help Université Laval to representation retired landslide-prone areas successful the region, and backing is besides being provided to the Kativik Regional Government to amended hazard management. 

In an email to CBC News, Umiujaq Mayor Jack Niviaxie said he's seeing the effects of clime alteration already successful his community.

About 460 kilometres east of Umiujaq, climate alteration is besides threatening the h2o successful Tasiujaq.

That village, situated adjacent Ungava Bay, is renowned for its precocious tides. Shafeghati said the tidal fluctuation determination is greater than the Bay of Fundy, and rising oversea levels could beryllium pushing h2o further up the community's river.

"There are times successful the twelvemonth that determination is brackish h2o intrusion and determination are sensors successful the strategy that volition unopen down the pumping erstwhile determination is salinity successful the river," helium said.

He said the strategy successful Tasiujaq is good for now, but successful the caller fewer decades, the assemblage whitethorn person to see moving the h2o pumping presumption further upriver.