Are low water levels to blame for some Yellowknife residents saying their water tastes funny? According to Chris Greencorn, the citySA国际影视传媒檚 director of public works, the answer is no.

He explained staff were switching YellowknifeSA国际影视传媒檚 water supply to river water from bay water earlier this month and noticed the river water had an odour to it.

"So we stopped that, then we made adjustments to the system, but a little bit of that water did make its way through the distribution system, so that's what people are encountering on that lower end of the system."

Although that water is still safe to drink, Greencorn said the water treatment plant won't remove odour. In addition, only a small volume of water was affected, he added.

"I think it was less than 500 cubic meters, so in comparison, there's nine million litres in our water treatment reservoir," he said. 

For anyone who thought the water tasted a bit like bleach, they might be onto something. Greencorn said city staff added a slightly more chlorine to the water to meet required standards at the start of making the switch to river water. That was done to keep it in line with health guidelines, he said.

"I wouldn't say it's out of the ordinary, we've done this before to adjust," he said. 

In 2014, Yellowknife also had a problem with water quality and water levels were low then as well. However, that was before Yellowknife's 2015 treatment plant was functioning.

"Before the water treatment plan, when there was run off at the river or we had a fast snow melt and sediment was dragged into the river that would have eventually end up in Yellowknife, before the water treatment plant, if that occurred, we'd put on a boil water order," Greencorn explained. "But because we have the treatment plant, even if that happens at the river, our filtration system removes all that turbidity from the water."

So, if people noticed their water looked a little cloudy recently, it's not because the water specifically was cloudy, but because sediment was stirred up in the pipes, Greencorn said, liking it fire hydrant flushing.

"All over town, we have to flush our hydrants. When we do hydrant flushing people will call and say, 'Hey, my water's cloudy, what's going on?' it's because we release water at such a high rate that it stirs up a little bit of sand in the bottom of the pipe," said Greencorn.

As for low water levels, there's still about a couple of metres above the city's intake at the river, which is plenty for now, said Greencorn.

"Now in saying that, it is low," he added. "But we have lots of room still over that pipe."

It's not easy predicating what the future will look like for the NWT's water levels, he acknowledged, adding it's something they deal with on a case-by-case basis. But so far, it hasn't had any impact on the water distribution system, he said.