Health department lifts Iqaluit boil water advisory after investigating new bypass system

A boil water advisory for trucked and piped water in Iqaluit has been lifted nine days after fuel was detected in the city's water supply again.

Nunavut's chief public health officer, Dr. Michael Patterson, said the Jan. 19 advisory had beenissued after small amounts of hydrocarbons were detected in the water that morning, and twice the previous week.

The city built a bypass at its water treatment plant as part of a list of requirements from the territorial government in order to lift a do-not-consume order that lasted from October to December last year.

After analyzing test results from the past week, the territory's Department of Health said in a statement Friday the water flowing through the bypass system's treatment process is safe to drink without boiling.

"The boil water advisory was a routine, temporary and precautionary measure to ensure safe water quality after the city switched its water delivery system to the bypass," the statement reads. It said precautionary advisories are issued anytime there is a "significant change" to the water treatment process.

Iqaluit beganinvestigating complaintsin the second week of January that a fuel odour had returned to its tap water. On Jan. 17, Mayor Kenny Bell told CBCNewsthe city had received 116 phone calls from residentsreporting the smell.