The governments of Northwest Territories and Canada want to know how people use the land and lakes around Yellowknife, Ndilo and Dettah to get a better understanding of people's exposure to contaminants left behind by activities at Giant and Con mines.
Contamination of the soil, water and wildlife beyond the boundaries of the mines is of SA国际影视传媒渉igh interest and concern to the public,SA国际影视传媒� Lisa Dyer, director of Environment at the GNWT's department of Environment and Natural Resources, said at a public meeting on Thursday.
As part of a human health risk assessment, researchers are gathering information about recreational activities on a fan-shaped swath of land and water up to 25 kilometres west and northwest of Giant Mine, as well as east of Dettah.
They hope fishers, swimmers, campers and cabin-dwellers will participate in the study, which will help determine whether people are being exposed to arsenic, antimony and mercury at unhealthy levels.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're trying to understand how people are exposed to contaminants or arsenic in the environment, so to be able to understand how people are exposed, we need to understand how they use certain resources,SA国际影视传媒� said Dyer.
SA国际影视传媒淲e really need to understand how people use the area to be able to come up with scenarios that suggest where their exposure might be and then, based upon that, we might understand the level of risk.SA国际影视传媒�
There is limited data on contaminants in fish from inland lakes (the lakes near Great Slave Lake) and on the water and sediment quality in areas close to town where people have cabins.
The human health risk assessment will help fill those gaps.
A number of studies have already been done on chemical levels in water, plants, soil, wildlife and country foods from around the Giant Mine site.
This assessment is looking at contaminants further afield, in an area referred to as the SA国际影视传媒渟tack shadow.SA国际影视传媒�
The stack shadow covers land and lakes downwind from Giant Mine, and includes Long, Lower Martin, Martin, Vee, Ryan and Walsh lakes.
Banting, Prosperous, River, Prelude and Pontoon lakes have been brought into the study because people have cabins on these lakes.
The GNWT has hired environmental consulting firm Canada North Environmental Services (CanNorth), which is wholly-owned by the Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Saskatchewan, to carry out the study, at a cost of $100,000.
Researchers want to find out what areas outside of town people go to, how long they spend in those places, and what activities they do while they are there.
SA国际影视传媒淢aybe you just hike for a few hours, maybe you go and you camp there and you spend several days there SA国际影视传媒� those are the sorts of questions we'd like to get some information from,SA国际影视传媒� Harriet Phillips, CanNorth's risk assessment division manager, said during the public engagement session Thursday.
Phillips's team also wants to know if people fish, hunt and swim in the assessment area, and how often they do so.
Arsenic and antimony contamination are the study's primary focus, but researchers are also looking at and mercury levels.
Phillips said some of the inland lakes have higher mercury levels, which is possibly due to sulfate emissions from Giant Mine's roaster from the time it was operating.
That heavy metal, said Phillips, SA国际影视传媒渁ccumulates in fish and people eat fish, and so we want to see if there are elevated mercury levels there and what that means.SA国际影视传媒�
Kieron Testart, MLA for Kam Lake, attended the public meeting. He said the government takes contamination SA国际影视传媒渧ery seriously.SA国际影视传媒�
Testart expressed some concern over how the researchers are gathering their information.
SA国际影视传媒淚f they're relying on online questionnaires and this meeting tonight, we're not going to get all the information we need,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淚 really hope the department is going to go out along the Ingraham Trail and go door-to-door with this.SA国际影视传媒�
Isabel Wilson, a student at McGill University in Montreal, came to the meeting with her mother.
Wilson often swims in the lakes in the summer, but is not really concerned about contamination.
She said she doesn't plan on changing her outdoor activity unless new information reveals SA国际影视传媒渢here's more contamination in areas that I didn't think there was so much.SA国际影视传媒�
The human health risk assessment is expected to wrap up before March 31, 2019.
Residents can share their activities on the lands and waters around Yellowknife by completing an online survey at: www.enr.gov.nt.ca/en/services/have-your-say-legacy-arsenic-contamination-around-yellowknife
